Biophysical controls on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks

Battin, Tom J.; Kaplan, Louis; Findlay, Stuart; Hopkinson, Charles S.; Martı́, Eugènia; Packman, Aaron I.; Newbold, J. Denis; Sabater, Francesc

doi:10.1038/ngeo101

Cited by 1,221 publications

(1,200 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Recent work emphasizes the importance of headwater rivers in this context. Headwater rivers receive the bulk of terrestrial carbon entering a river network 2 . Headwaters contribute significantly to CO 2 outgassing via microbial activity 3 , which partly reflects the geomorphic complexity of low-order streams created by spatial variations of hydraulics and substrate 4 .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Watershed-scale carbon sequestration fluxes in tropical rivers may strongly reflect episodic disturbances, such as landslides and floods, whereas fluxes in rivers with less intense disturbance regimes may strongly reflect river geomorphic complexity that facilitates carbon storage. Geomorphic complexity in this context includes channel-spanning obstructions such as logjams or beaver dams that facilitate transient carbon storage and enhanced biological uptake over a few hours in a pool, as well as sequestration via sedimentation over thousands of years on a floodplain 2,3,[14][15][16] .…”

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Mechanisms of carbon storage in mountainous headwater rivers

et al. 2012

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Published research emphasizes rapid downstream export of terrestrial carbon from mountainous headwater rivers, but little work focuses on mechanisms that create carbon storage along these rivers, or on the volume of carbon storage. Here we estimate organic carbon stored in diverse valley types of headwater rivers in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, USA. We show that low-gradient, broad valley bottoms with old-growth forest or active beaver colonies store the great majority of above-and below-ground carbon. These laterally unconfined valley segments constitute o25% of total river length, but store B75% of the carbon. Floodplain sediment and coarse wood dominate carbon storage. Our estimates of riverine carbon storage represent a previously undocumented but important carbon sink. Our results indicate that: not all mountainous rivers rapidly export carbon; not all valley segments are equally important in carbon storage; and historical changes in riverine complexity have likely reduced carbon storage.

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Mechanisms of carbon storage in mountainous headwater rivers

et al. 2012

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“…Transit time distributions in rivers control the opportunity for biological uptake and transformation of a variety of critical constituents, including nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and toxic contaminants [Alexander et al, 2000;Battin et al, 2003Battin et al, , 2008Raymond et al, 2013;Marzadri et al, 2014]. Travel times in rivers and watersheds are very broadly distributed [Kirchner et al, 2000;Haggerty et al, 2002;Stonedahl et al, 2012;Aubeneau et al, 2014], but the mechanisms that produce travel time distributions over many orders of magnitude are not known precisely [Boano et al, 2014].…”

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confidence: 99%

Fractal patterns in riverbed morphology produce fractal scaling of water storage times

Aubeneau

Martin

Bolster

et al. 2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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River topography is famously fractal, and the fractality of the sediment bed surface can produce scaling in solute residence time distributions. Empirical evidence showing the relationship between fractal bed topography and scaling of hyporheic travel times is still lacking. We performed experiments to make high‐resolution observations of streambed topography and solute transport over naturally formed sand bedforms in a large laboratory flume. We analyzed the results using both numerical and theoretical models. We found that fractal properties of the bed topography do indeed affect solute residence time distributions. Overall, our experimental, numerical, and theoretical results provide evidence for a coupling between the sand‐bed topography and the anomalous transport scaling in rivers. Larger bedforms induced greater hyporheic exchange and faster pore water turnover relative to smaller bedforms, suggesting that the structure of legacy morphology may be more important to solute and contaminant transport in streams and rivers than previously recognized.

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“…The decomposition of litter as a mechanism of nutrient release is a key process in the functioning of both natural and modified ecosystems (Jonczak 2013;Berg and McClaugherty 2014). Plant litter decomposition in inland waters contributes significantly to global nutrient cycles ), particularly in flowing waters, such as forest streams and rivers (Battin et al 2008(Battin et al , 2009). In forest rivers, plant litter is an essential part of the food web and ecological functioning (Wallace et al 1997;Gessner et al 1999) because it provides large inputs of energy and nutrients to an aquatic ecosystem that typically exhibits low levels of primary productivity (Wallace et al 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of multiple metallic elements during foliar litter decomposition in an alpine forest river

Yue

Yang

Peng

et al. 2016

Annals of Forest Science

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Abstract& Key message Compared with previously reported data, we found that plant litter decomposes faster in river ecosystem than on forest floor in a comparable period, but the dynamics of metallic elements during litter decomposition in river are likely to share common patterns with the corresponding ones in decomposing litter on forest floor. & Context Litter decomposition in terrestrial lotic ecosystem is one of the most important pathways for metallic elements cycling, while little information is currently available about the dynamics of metallic elements in the decomposing litter of lotic ecosystems.& Aims and methods The concentrations and release rates of potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and aluminium (Al) were investigated in the decomposing foliar litter of four dominant species in an alpine forest river. & Results Over a 1-year period of decomposition, K, Ca, and Mg were released from virtually all types of litter, whereas Na, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Al were released from willow litter but accumulated in azalea, cypress, and larch litters during litter decomposition. Litter species, decomposition period, and river water characteristics (e.g., temperature, pH, flow velocity, and nutrient availability) were significantly related to the dynamics of these metallic elements in decomposing litter. & Conclusion Our results suggested that the similarity between the dynamics of metallic elements in the decomposing litter of lotic ecosystems reported here and previously for forest floors indicates a general pattern for the cycling of metallic element across different ecosystem types, and the net accumulation patterns for elements such as Zn, Cu, and Al during litter decomposition suggested that some litter species may act as efficient "cleaner" for metal purification in future ecological engineering.

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Biophysical controls on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks

Cited by 1,221 publications

References 42 publications

Mechanisms of carbon storage in mountainous headwater rivers

Mechanisms of carbon storage in mountainous headwater rivers

Fractal patterns in riverbed morphology produce fractal scaling of water storage times

Dynamics of multiple metallic elements during foliar litter decomposition in an alpine forest river

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