Modelling the spatial and seasonal variability of water quality for entire river networks: Relationships with natural and anthropogenic factors

Álvarez‐Cabria, Mario; Barquín, José; Peñas, Francisco J.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.109

Cited by 109 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Stream were aimed to be sampled at basal discharge conditions (<3 days after a high-flow event). The protocol used to coordinate all the sampling is available We characterized the catchment and climatological attributes of the sampled streams using both the virtual watershed approach by means of the NestStream software (National Geographic Institute; Álvarez-Cabria et al, 2016;Benda et al, 2007) and data from different public databases (SIMPA and Occupation Information system of Soil for Spain; Corine Land Cover 2006 and Deutscher Wetterdienst for Germany; Swiss land use data and SwissMetNet for Switzerland). MAP and mean annual catchment temperature were also obtained from public databases (AEMET, DeutscherWetterdienst, and SwissMetNet).…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behind the Scenes: Mechanisms Regulating Climatic Patterns of Dissolved Organic Carbon Uptake in Headwater Streams

Catalán

Casas-Ruiz

Arce

et al. 2018

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Large variability in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) uptake rates has been reported for headwater streams, but the causes of this variability are still not well understood. Here we assessed acetate uptake rates across 11 European streams comprising different ecoregions by using whole‐reach pulse acetate additions. We evaluated the main climatic and biogeochemical drivers of acetate uptake during two seasonal periods. Our results show a minor influence of sampling periods but a strong effect of climate and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition on acetate uptake. In particular, mean annual precipitation explained half of the variability of the acetate uptake velocities (VfAcetate) across streams. Temperate streams presented the lowest VfAcetate, together with humic‐like DOM and the highest stream respiration rates. In contrast, higher VfAcetate were found in semiarid streams, with protein‐like DOM, indicating a dominance of reactive, labile compounds. This, together with lower stream respiration rates and molar ratios of DOC to nitrate, suggests a strong C limitation in semiarid streams, likely due to reduced inputs from the catchment. Overall, this study highlights the interplay of climate and DOM composition and its relevance to understand the biogeochemical mechanisms controlling DOC uptake in streams.

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Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behind the Scenes: Mechanisms Regulating Climatic Patterns of Dissolved Organic Carbon Uptake in Headwater Streams

Catalán

Casas-Ruiz

Arce

et al. 2018

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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“…This entails that the link between LULC and water quality reflects a background "multi-pollutants" load that can be considered as temporally stable. A potential seasonal effect as observed in other studies on particular relationships between particular variables and LULC [7,8] might have been mitigated as the developed method treats several water quality variables together and as seasonal values are averaged values. For studies aiming to clearly focus on seasonal effects, we recommend specific and regular spatio-temporal sampling while focusing on homogeneous groups of pollutants regarding their seasonal variability (see e.g., Johnson et al [46]).…”

Section: Forest Cover and Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Forest Cover to Water Quality: A Multivariate Analysis of Large Monitoring Datasets

Brogna

Michez

Jacobs

et al. 2017

Water

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Forested catchments are generally assumed to provide higher quality water. However, this hypothesis must be validated in various contexts as interactions between multiple land use and land cover (LULC) types, ecological variables and water quality variables render this relationship highly complex. This paper applies a straightforward multivariate approach on a typical large monitoring dataset of a highly managed and densely populated area (Wallonia, Belgium; 10-year dataset), quantifying forest cover effects on nine physico-chemical water quality variables. Results show that forest cover explains about one third of the variability of water quality and is positively correlated with higher quality water. When controlling for spatial autocorrelation, forest cover still explains 9% of water quality. Unlike needle-leaved forest cover, broad-leaved forest cover presents an independent effect from ecological variables and explains independently 4.8% of water quality variability while it shares 5.8% with cropland cover. This study demonstrates clear independent effects of forest cover on water quality, and presents a method to tease out independent LULC effects from typical large multivariate monitoring datasets. Further research on explanatory variables, spatial distribution effects and water quality datasets could lead to effective strategies to mitigate pollution and reach legal targets.

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“…Clean water is crucial to sustain the structure and functions of a healthy stream ecosystem. Anthropogenic activities, coupled with the natural processes, drive changes in stream water quality and environmental health [ Simeonov et al , ; Álvarez‐Cabria et al , ]. Linking the in‐stream water quality with the watershed land uses/cover and hydrology has therefore been a focus of much research [e.g., Shrestha and Kazama , ; Chang , ; Kang et al , ; Nagy et al , ; R. Wan et al , ; Y. Wan et al , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative linkages of stream water quality and environmental health with the land use and hydrologic drivers in the coastal‐urban watersheds of southeast Florida

Abdul‐Aziz

Ahmed

2017

GeoHealth

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A systematic data analytics was employed to determine the relative linkages of stream water quality and environmental health with the land use and hydrologic drivers in the coastal‐urban watersheds of southeast Florida. Power law‐based partial least squares regression models were developed to reliably estimate the linkages by appropriately resolving multicollinearity (Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency = 0.72–0.95). The analytics indicated Everglades as the external and the largest source of total nitrogen (TN) in the coastal‐urban streams for both wet (June–October) and dry (November–May) seasons. The “external driver” exhibited 1.5–2 times stronger control on stream TN than that of the watershed “land use,” “hydrology,” and the “upstream reach” contributions. In contrast, Everglades appeared to be a minor source of in‐stream total phosphorus (TP), which was predominantly controlled by the internal watershed processes. TP was most strongly linked with the upstream reach concentrations and watershed land uses in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Despite the predominantly built‐up fraction (74%) of the study area, agricultural land was the most substantial watershed source of in‐stream nutrients. The linkages of algal biomass (Chl a) with the drivers indicated TP as the limiting nutrient. Stream dissolved oxygen was most strongly influenced by the adjacent groundwater depth and watershed land uses, respectively, in the wet and dry seasons. The estimated relative linkages and insights would be useful to identify the management targets and priorities to achieve healthy coastal‐urban stream ecosystems in southeast Florida and around the world.

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Modelling the spatial and seasonal variability of water quality for entire river networks: Relationships with natural and anthropogenic factors

Cited by 109 publications

References 41 publications

Behind the Scenes: Mechanisms Regulating Climatic Patterns of Dissolved Organic Carbon Uptake in Headwater Streams

Behind the Scenes: Mechanisms Regulating Climatic Patterns of Dissolved Organic Carbon Uptake in Headwater Streams

Linking Forest Cover to Water Quality: A Multivariate Analysis of Large Monitoring Datasets

Relative linkages of stream water quality and environmental health with the land use and hydrologic drivers in the coastal‐urban watersheds of southeast Florida

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