Alyssa Gerhardt, Peter S. Levi, Natalie A. Griffiths, Christopher R. DeRolph, Jeffery S. Riggs, Allison M. Fortner
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Nitrate concentrations in streams and rivers in the Midwestern United States are often elevated, reflecting the predominance of agriculture in the surrounding landscape. Recent advances in technology, including surface water drones and more precise sensors, provide opportunities to investigate nitrate dynamics with high spatial and temporal resolution. We deployed an aquatic drone, the AquaBOT, in a sixth-order, agriculturally influenced river to examine longitudinal patterns in water quality. Our goal was to measure the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in nitrate and nitrate removal processes and determine the influence of tributary inputs on main stem chemistry. We navigated the drone along a 12-km reach of the Des Moines River (Iowa, USA) nine times between June 2021 and August 2022. Across the deployments, mean nitrate concentration was positively related to discharge and was nearly two orders of magnitude higher in spring than summer. We observed contrasting patterns in main stem nitrate, which decreased downstream during some runs (e.g., 3.1–2.7 mg N L−1 in June 2021), demonstrating net nitrate uptake along the reach, and remained constant on other dates. Similarly, tributaries to the Des Moines had a varied influence on riverine nitrate. Tributaries either increased or decreased main stem nitrate concentrations depending on the tributary and the date. Nitrate removal rates were spatially and temporally variable but showed some consistency at the subreach (2 km) scale, with two subreaches often showing elevated rates of nitrate removal across dates. Our study reveals nuanced heterogeneity in nitrate dynamics of the Des Moines River despite the homogeneity of agricultural land cover in the watershed.
期刊介绍:
JGR-Biogeosciences focuses on biogeosciences of the Earth system in the past, present, and future and the extension of this research to planetary studies. The emerging field of biogeosciences spans the intellectual interface between biology and the geosciences and attempts to understand the functions of the Earth system across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Studies in biogeosciences may use multiple lines of evidence drawn from diverse fields to gain a holistic understanding of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems and extreme environments. Specific topics within the scope of the section include process-based theoretical, experimental, and field studies of biogeochemistry, biogeophysics, atmosphere-, land-, and ocean-ecosystem interactions, biomineralization, life in extreme environments, astrobiology, microbial processes, geomicrobiology, and evolutionary geobiology