Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams

Stream water dissolved oxygen was monitored in a 3.2km2 moorland headwater catchment in the Scottish Highlands. The stream consists of three 1st order headwaters and a 2nd order main stem. The stream network is fringed by peat soils with no riparian trees, though dwarf shrubs provide shading in the...

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Main Authors: Dick, Jonathan J., Soulsby, Chris, Birkel, Christian, Malcolm, Iain, Tetzlaff, Doerthe
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2016
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4996464/
id pubmed-4996464
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-49964642016-09-12 Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams Dick, Jonathan J. Soulsby, Chris Birkel, Christian Malcolm, Iain Tetzlaff, Doerthe Research Article Stream water dissolved oxygen was monitored in a 3.2km2 moorland headwater catchment in the Scottish Highlands. The stream consists of three 1st order headwaters and a 2nd order main stem. The stream network is fringed by peat soils with no riparian trees, though dwarf shrubs provide shading in the lower catchment. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is regulated by the balance between atmospheric re-aeration and the metabolic processes of photosynthesis and respiration. DO was continuously measured for >1 year and the data used to calibrate a mass balance model, to estimate primary production, respiration and re-aeration for a 1st order site and in the 2nd order main stem. Results showed that the stream was always heterotrophic at both sites. Sites were most heterotrophic in the summer reflecting higher levels of stream metabolism. The 1st order stream appeared more heterotrophic which was consistent with the evident greater biomass of macrophytes in the 2nd order stream, with resulting higher primary productivity. Comparison between respiration, primary production, re-aeration and potential physical controls revealed only weak relationships. However, the most basic model parameters (e.g. the parameter linking light and photosynthesis) controlling ecosystem processes resulted in significant differences between the sites which seem related to the stream channel geometry. Public Library of Science 2016-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4996464/ /pubmed/27556278 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161363 Text en © 2016 Dick et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Dick, Jonathan J.
Soulsby, Chris
Birkel, Christian
Malcolm, Iain
Tetzlaff, Doerthe
spellingShingle Dick, Jonathan J.
Soulsby, Chris
Birkel, Christian
Malcolm, Iain
Tetzlaff, Doerthe
Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
author_facet Dick, Jonathan J.
Soulsby, Chris
Birkel, Christian
Malcolm, Iain
Tetzlaff, Doerthe
author_sort Dick, Jonathan J.
title Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
title_short Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
title_full Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
title_fullStr Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
title_full_unstemmed Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Measurements and Modelling Metabolism in Peatland Streams
title_sort continuous dissolved oxygen measurements and modelling metabolism in peatland streams
description Stream water dissolved oxygen was monitored in a 3.2km2 moorland headwater catchment in the Scottish Highlands. The stream consists of three 1st order headwaters and a 2nd order main stem. The stream network is fringed by peat soils with no riparian trees, though dwarf shrubs provide shading in the lower catchment. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is regulated by the balance between atmospheric re-aeration and the metabolic processes of photosynthesis and respiration. DO was continuously measured for >1 year and the data used to calibrate a mass balance model, to estimate primary production, respiration and re-aeration for a 1st order site and in the 2nd order main stem. Results showed that the stream was always heterotrophic at both sites. Sites were most heterotrophic in the summer reflecting higher levels of stream metabolism. The 1st order stream appeared more heterotrophic which was consistent with the evident greater biomass of macrophytes in the 2nd order stream, with resulting higher primary productivity. Comparison between respiration, primary production, re-aeration and potential physical controls revealed only weak relationships. However, the most basic model parameters (e.g. the parameter linking light and photosynthesis) controlling ecosystem processes resulted in significant differences between the sites which seem related to the stream channel geometry.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2016
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4996464/
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