How does changing seasonality affect the capacity of arctic stream networks to influence nutrient fluxes from the landscape to the ocean?

Project Duration: Sep-2009 - Aug-2012
Investigators:
  • Breck Bowden (University of Vermont)
  • Wil Wollheim (University of New Hampshire)
  • Michael Gooseff

Measuring hyporheic heads in a tundra stream, North Slope of Alaska.
Overview: Stream networks are intimately connected to the landscapes through which they flow and significantly transform nutrients and organic matter that are in transport from landscapes to oceans. In previous research we studied several arctic headwater streams to determine how the seasonal development of the thaw basin (thawed sediments under streams) interacts with the hyporheic zone (a layer of surface sediments that contains water which exchanges continuously with water in the open channel). During this study we measured significant rates of net N and P regeneration from (or uptake by) the hyporheic zone during the mid-summer. In many cases this regeneration was important relative to, for example, the amount of N and P required to support primary production in these streams.
We seek to address two questions:
1.  How important is hyporheic regeneration relative to other important ecosystem or landscape fluxes (e.g. hyporheic mineralization, throughflow, lateral flow)?
2. How does the interaction among these processes differ over the extreme arctic season?
During the “shoulder seasons” in the arctic (spring and fall) the extent of sub-stream thaw basin controls the extent of the hyporheic zone, while during the summer the thaw basin is generally deeper than the hyporheic zone. This creates a situation – unique to the arctic – in which the hyporheic zone and its influences on stream biogeochemical processes change seasonally from being non-existent in the early spring and late fall to being fully formed and functional in the summer. Simultaneously, important terrestrial ecosystem characteristics and processes that affect stream function also vary seasonally (e.g., snowmelt, vegetation influences, DOM quantity and quality, microbial activity).

We propose to quantify the relative influences of throughflow, lateral inputs, and hyporheic regeneration on the seasonal fluxes C, N, and P in an arctic river network, and determine how these influences will shift under seasonal conditions that are likely to be substantially different in the future.
Graduate Students supported on this project:
  • Chris Bakey (MS, Penn State University)
  • Malcolm Herstand (MS, University of Vermont)
  • Sam Parker (PhD, University of Vermont)
  • Lisle Snyder (MS, University of Vermont)
  • Claire Treat (PhD, University of New Hampshire)
  • Adam Wlostowski (MS, Penn State University)
Undergraduate Students supported on this project:
  • Genna Waldvogel (Unversity of Vermont)
  • Ryan Sleeper (University of Vermont)

Postdoctoral Researchers supported on this project:
  • Kyle Wittinghill (University of New Hampshire)
  • Tim Covino (Duke University)
Published Results from this Project                                                                             (* indicates student lead author)
  1. *Wlostowski, AN, MN Gooseff, and T Wagener. 2013. Influence of constant rate versus slug injection experiment type on parameter identifiability in a 1-D transient storage model for stream solute transport. Water Resources Research, 49(2): 1184-1188.
  2. *Snyder, L. and W.B. Bowden. 2014. Nutrient dynamics in an oligotrophic arctic stream monitored in situ by wet chemistry methods. Water Resources Research, 50(3): 2039–2049.
  3. Prowse, T., K. Alfredsen, S. Beltaos, B.R. Bonsal, W.B. Bowden, C.R. Duguay, A.Korhola, J. McNamara, W.F. Vincent, V. Vuglinsky, K.M. Walter Anthony, G.A. Weyhenmeyer (2011). Effects of Changes in Arctic Lake and River Ice. Ambio, 40(Sp1): 46-52.
  4. Wlostowski, AN, MN Gooseff, W Wollheim, WB Bowden (in review). Breakthrough curve decomposition: A conceptual framework for analyzing solute transport processes in rivers, independent of 1D numerical transport models. L&O Methods.
  5. Treat, C. W.M. Wollheim, R. Varner, A.S. Grandy, J. Talbot, S. Frolking 2014. Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4 production in Alaskan permafrost peats. Global Change Biology, 20(8): 2674–2686.
  6. Prowse, T., K. Alfredsen, S. Beltaos, B. Bonsal, C. Duguay, A. Korhola, J. McNamara, W.F. Vincent, V. Vuglinsky, G. Weyhenmeyer, K. Walter Anthony, W.B. Bowden, V. Buzin, Y. Dibike, N. Gantner, L. Hinzman, L. Lia, T. Ouarda, R. Pienitz, J.D. Reist, M. Stickler, J. Weckström, F. Wrona. 2011. . (2011). Changing lake and river ice regimes: trends, effects and implications. Chapter 6. In: Snow, water, ice, and Peramfrost in the Arctic. An assessment report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) Published by the AMAP Secretariat, Arctic Council. Oslo.
  7. Bowden, W.B., B.J. Peterson, L.A. Deegan, A.D. Huryn, J.P. Benstead, H. Golden, M. Kendrick, S.M. Parker, E. Schuett, J. Valino, and J.E. Hobbie (2014). Ecology of streams of the Toolik region. Alaska's Changing Arctic: Ecological Consequences for Tundra, Streams, and Lakes J.E. Hobbie and G. Kling, Eds.. Oxford University Press. New York.
  8. Wollheim, W.M (2016). From Headwaters to rivers to river networks: scaling in stream ecology. Streams In a Changing Environment. J. Jones and E. Stanley. Eds.. Elsevier.. New York.
Conference Presentations from this Project
  1. *Wlostowski, AN, MN Gooseff, WB Bowden, WM Wollheim, M Herstand, CC Treat, and BL McGlynn. 2010. Channel water balances in Arctic tundra streams. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA (H31D-1032).
  2. Gooseff, MN, KE Bencala, WB Bowden, BL McGlynn, RA Payn, K Singha, AS Ward, A Wlostowski, WM Wollheim. 2010. Context Conundrums: Observations and conceptual models are primary controls on interpretations of temporal and spatial scales of stream-groundwater interactions. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA (H33J-01).
  3. *Treat, CC, M Bhagat, J Talbot, RK Varner, S Grandy, SA Ewing, WM Wollheim, S Frolking. (2012). Controls on soil carbon loss with permafrost thaw in Alaskan peatland ecosystems. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  4. Whittinghill, KA, WM Wollheim, WB Bowden, MN Gooseff, MR Herstand, AN Wlostowski. (2012). Examining effects of changing seasonality on arctic stream nutrients using a model of in-stream and hyporheic zone biogeochemical cycling. International Polar Year meeting. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  5. Whittinghill, KA, WM Wollheim, WB Bowden, MN Gooseff, MR Herstand, CC Treat, and AN Wlostowski (2011). Examining effects of changing seasonality on arctic stream nutrients using a model of in-stream and hyporheic zone biogeochemical cycling. Catchment Science Gordon Research Seminar. Gordon Research Conference, Maine.
  6. Bowden, WB, MS Khosh, G Waldvogel, MN Gooseff, WM Wollheim, KA Whittinghill, AN Wlostowski, AD Jacobson, JW McClelland, TA Douglas, GO Lehn, and A Barker. (2012). Seasonal Asynchrony in Terrestrial Nutrient Production and Demand Drives Nutrient Delivery to Arctic Streams. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  7. Covino, TP, WB Bowden, MN Gooseff, WM Wollheim, BL McGlynn, KA Whittinghill, AN Wlostowski, and MR Herstand (2012). Deciphering relationships between in-stream travel times, nutrient concentrations, and uptake through analysis of hysteretic and non-hysteretic kinetic behavior. Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  8. Gooseff, MN, MN Taptich, AN Wlostowski, K Gerecht, RA Payn, AS Ward, WB Bowden, M Fitzgerald, BL McGlynn, K Singha, and WM Wollheim (2012). Connecting Streams to Watersheds Through Stream–Groundwater Exchange as Determined from the Channel. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  9. *Smull, EM, AN Wlostowski, MN Gooseff, WB Bowden, and WM Wollheim (2012). Comparison of rhodomine-WT and sodium chloride tracer transport in a 4th order arctic river. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  10. Whittinghill, KA, WM Wollheim, WB Bowden, MN Gooseff, and AN Wlostowski (2012). Spatial and Temporal Variability in Sources and Fate of Dissolved Carbon and Nutrients in an Arctic River Network. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  11. *Wlostowski, AN, MN Gooseff, WB Bowden, WM Wollheim, and KA Whittinghill (2012). Hydrogeomorphic contrast between inlet and outlet streams of a high arctic lake influence stream-groundwater exchange. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  12. Gooseff, MN, and AN Wlostowski (2012). Simplified analysis of stream solute transport to determine characteristic timescales of transport and exchange with groundwater. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  13. Bowden, WB, MN Gooseff; WM Wollheim, MR Herstand, CC Treat, KA Whittinghill, and AN Wlostowski (2011). Changing Seasonality in the Arctic and its Influences on Biogeochemical Processing in Tundra River Networks. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  14. *Wlostowski, AN, MN Gooseff, WB Bowden, WM Wollheim, MR Herstand, and KA Whittinghill (2011). What are the controls on surface and hyporheic transient storage in Alaskan tundra streams?. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
  15. Whittinghill, KA, WM Wollheim; WB Bowden, MN Gooseff, MR Herstand, and AN Wlostowski (2011). Examining effects of changing seasonality on arctic stream nutrients using a model of in-stream and hyporheic zone biogeochemical cycling. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
Theses/Dissertations from this Project
  1. Bakey, C. 2012. Analysis of Thermal Gradients in Hyporheic Zones of Arctic Streams to Determine Flow Dynamics, MS Thesis, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Penn State University.
  2. Wlostowski, A. 2012. Solute Transport Dynamics in Alaskan Arctic Tundra Streams, MS Thesis, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Penn State University.
This project is funded through the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under collaborative grant nos. 0902029, 0902113, and 0902106. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.