Collaborative Research: Understanding the Scaling of N Cycle Controls Throughout a River Network
Project Duration: Oct-2006 - Sep-2009
Investigators:
Measuring stream velocities in a headwater stream, Ipswich River Basin, Massachusetts.
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Overview: We are investigating the controls on nitrogen (N) cycling throughout the Ipswich River watershed in northeastern Massachusetts. The Ipswich River watershed landuse is a mix of urban, agrictultural, and reference types. To understand how aquatic networks control N exports, we require knowledge of what controls N reactivity across the entire range of river sizes that comprise the river network. Much research has been devoted to quantifying N cycle processes in small headwater streams, with a recent emphasis on denitrification. It remains unknown whether the controls in small streams apply to larger river reaches. In particular, the role of the hyporheic zone is potentially critical, yet scaling rules describing changes in transient storage zone/hyporheic characteristics and associated N cycle processes have yet to be determined. |
Specific Objectives of this Project:
1) Characterize the major interactions involving surface water hydraulics, hyporheic flow and nitrate concentrations in regulating rates of aquatic denitrification and nitrate retention across stream orders;
2) Determine how the spatial distribution of denitrification and nitrate retention interacts with the distribution of nitrate inputs to define river network control of N exports to the coastal zone.
1) Characterize the major interactions involving surface water hydraulics, hyporheic flow and nitrate concentrations in regulating rates of aquatic denitrification and nitrate retention across stream orders;
2) Determine how the spatial distribution of denitrification and nitrate retention interacts with the distribution of nitrate inputs to define river network control of N exports to the coastal zone.
Graduate Students supported on this project:
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Undergraduate Students supported on this project:
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Published Results from this Project (* indicates student lead author)
- Battin TJ, LA Kaplan, S Findlay, CS Hopkinson, E Marti, AI Packman, JD Newbold and F Sabater. 2008. Biophysical controls on organic carbonfluxes in fluvial networks. Nature Geoscience, 1(2): 95-100.
- Hopkinson, C. and A. Giblin. 2008. Salt marsh N Cycling. In- R. Capone, D. Bronk, M. Mulholland and E. Carpenter (eds), Nitrogen in the Marine Environment – 2nd Edition. Elsevier Publ. pp. 977-1022.
- Hopkinson, C.S., A. E. Lugo, M. Alber, A. Covich and S. van Bloem. 2008. Forecasting effects of sea-level rise and windstorms on coastal and inland ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 6(5):255-263, doi:10.1890/070153.
- Grimm, N., D. Foster, P. Groffman, M. Grove, C. Hopkinson, K. Nadelhoffer, D. Pataki and D. Peters. 2008. Land change: ecosystem responses to urbanization and pollution across climatic and societal gradients. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 6(5):264-272, doi:10.1890/070147.
- *Briggs, MA, MN Gooseff, CD Arp, and MA Baker. 2009. A method for estimating surface transient storage parameters for streams with concurrent hyporheic storage. Water Resources Research, 45, W00D27, doi:10.1029/2008WR006959.
- *Briggs, MA, MN Gooseff, BJ Peterson, K Morkeski, WM Wollheim, and CS Hopkinson. 2010. Surface and hyporheic transient storage dynamics throughout a coastal stream network. Water Resources Research, 46, W06516, doi:10.1029/2009WR008222
- Gooseff, MN, MA Briggs, KE Bencala, BL McGlynn, and DT Scott. 2013. Do transient storage parameters directly scale in longer, combined stream reaches? Reach length dependence of transient storage interpretations. Journal of Hydrology, 483:16-25.
- Wollheim, WM, TK Harms, BJ Peterson, K Morkeski, CS Copkinson, RJ Stewart, MN Gooseff, and MA Briggs. 2014. Nitrate uptake dynamics of surface transient storage in stream channels and fluvial wetland. Biogeochemistry, 120: 239-257.
Conference Presentations from this Project
- *Briggs, M, M Gooseff, and B McGlynn. 2006. Scaling of transient storage parameter estimates with increasing reach length in a mountain headwater stream. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (B23A-1054). [poster]
- *Briggs, M, and MN Gooseff. 2007. A comparison of transient storage parameter estimates between composite and component reach lengths in a mountain stream. Hydrology Days, Colorado State University.
- *Briggs, M, M Gooseff, K Morkeski, W Wollheim, C Hopkinson, B Peterson, and C Vorosmarty. 2007. A comparison of in-channel dead zone and hyporheic zone transient storage parameter estimates between a 1st and 5th order stream. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H13D-1536).
- *Briggs, MA, MN Gooseff, K Morkeski, WM Wollheim, B Peterson, C Hopkinson, and CJ Vorosmarty. 2008. Discriminating hyporheic and in-channel dead zone transient storage in streams. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT.
- Gooseff, MN, KE Bencala, BL McGlynn, MA Briggs, and DT Scott. 2008. Limitations to spatial scaling of transient storage. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT.
- *Briggs, MA, MN Gooseff, K Morkeski, BJ Peterson, W Wollheim, C Hopkinson, and R Stewart. 2008. Partitioning surface and hyporheic transient storage in streams of increasing size. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H11B).
- Gooseff, MN, MA Briggs, DA Benson, K Morkeski, BJ Peterson, W Wollheim, and C Hopkinson. 2008. Determining surface transient storage zone residence time distributions from whole stream solute injections. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H11B).
- *Stewart, RJ, WM Wollheim, MA Briggs, MN Gooseff, K Morkeski, BJ Peterson, C Hopkinson, and C Vorosmarty. 2008. Separation of river network scale nitrogen removal between surface and hyporheic transient storage compartments. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H11B).
- *Weaver, MR, MN Gooseff, MA Briggs, K Morkeski, BJ Peterson, W Wollheim, and CS Hopkinson. 2008. Characterization of surface transient storage zone exchange and flow dynamics in a 3rd-order stream, Massachusetts. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H11B).
- Wollheim, W, R Stewart, M Briggs, G Gettel, M Green, M Gooseff, T Harms, C Hopkinson, N Morse, and B Peterson. 2008. Assessing the influence of various aquatic ecosystem types on biogeochemical fluxes at river network scales. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco (H14B).
- Gooseff, MN, MA Briggs, MR Weaver, W Wollheim, BJ Peterson, K Morkeski, and CS Hopkinson. 2009. Separating in-channel and hyporheic transient storage processes in river networks - A path toward improved understanding of fluvial biogeochemsitry. European Geosciences Union Annual Meeting, Vienna, Austria.
- Morkeski, K, BJ Peterson, MA Briggs, MN Gooseff, CS Hopkinson, RJ Stewart, and WM Wollheim. 2009. Nutrient dynamics in surface transient storage zones within a coastal Massachusetts river network. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI.
- Stewart, RJ, WM Wollheim, MA Briggs, MN Gooseff, K Morkeski, BJ Peterson, CS Hopkinson, and CJ Vorosmarty. 2009. Separation of river network scale nitrogen removal among main channel and two transient storage compartments. North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI.
- Gooseff. MN, MA Briggs, PC Kerr, MR Weaver, W Wollheim, BJ Peterson, K Morkeski, and CS Hopkinson. 2009. Separating in-channel and hyporheic transient storage processes in river networks - A path toward improved quantification of stream-groundwater interactions. American Geophysical Union Joint Assembly, Toronto, Canada.
- Gooseff, MN, RA Payn, MA Briggs, BL McGlynn, KE Bencala, SM Wondzell, and R Haggerty. 2010. Methods, applications, and limits of assessing residence time distributions of solutes in streams (Abstract ID:6298) Joint meeting of the North American Benthological Society and the American Society of Limnology & Oceanography, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Theses/Dissertations from this Project
- Briggs, M. 2009. Partitioning Surface and Hyporheic Transient Storage Throughout a Coastal Stream Network, MS Thesis, Department of Geology & Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines.
This project is funded through the National Science Foundation's Ecosystem Sciences Program.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB 06-14350. 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. |