SpringerLink
Log in

Nitrate uptake dynamics of surface transient storage in stream channels and fluvial wetlands

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

River systems are important regulators of anthropogenic nitrogen flux between land and ocean. Nitrogen dynamics in small headwater streams have been extensively measured, whereas less is known about contributions of other components of stream networks to nitrogen removal, including larger streams or fluvial wetlands. Here, we quantified nitrate reaction rates in higher-order stream channels and in surface transient storage (STS) zones (sub-systems with greater water residence time than the main channel) of the Ipswich River watershed, a temperate basin characterized by suburban development. We characterized uptake in STS both within higher-order stream channels and in fluvial wetlands that remain connected to advective fluxes but not constrained within channels. We compare reaction rates in these systems to those previously measured in headwater streams in the same basin. We found that (1) nitrate reaction rates (as uptake velocity, υf) in higher-order streams (n = 2) differed from each other but were consistent with previous estimates from headwater streams, (2) nitrate reaction rates in STS zones within higher-order stream channels (n = 2) were higher than rates estimated at the whole-stream scale, (3) ambient nitrate reaction rates in fluvial wetland STS (n = 7) were high but comparable to headwater streams with low nitrate concentration, (4) nitrate reaction rates were higher in fluvial wetland STS compared to headwater stream channels at elevated nitrate concentration, and (5) efficiency loss (EL) similar to that found in headwater streams was also apparent in fluvial wetlands. These results indicate that STS are potential hotspots of biogeochemical activity and should be explicitly integrated into network scale biogeochemical models. Further, experimental evidence of EL in fluvial wetlands suggests that the effectiveness of STS to retain N may decline if N loading increases.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (France)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alexander RB, Boyer EW, Smith RA, Schwarz GE, Moore RB (2007) The role of headwater streams in downstream water quality. J Am Water Resour Assoc 43:41–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battin TJ, Kaplan LA, Findlay S, Hopkinson CS, Marti E, Packman AI, Newbold JD, Sabater F (2008) Biophysical controls on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks. Nat Geosci 1:95–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaulieu J, Tank J, Hamilton S, Wollheim W, Hall R, Mulholland P, Peterson BJ, Ashkenas L, Cooper L, Dahm C, Dodds W, Grimm N, Johnson S, McDowell W, Poole G, Valett H, Arango V, Bernot M, Burgin A, Crenshaw C, Helton A, Johnson L, O’Brien J, Potter J, Sheibley R, Sobota D, Thomas S (2011) Nitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci 108:214–219. doi:10.1073/pnas.1011464108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt ES, Likens GE, Hall RO, Buso DC, Fisher SG, Burton TM, Meyer JL, McDowell WH, Mayer MS, Bowden WB, Findlay SEG, Macneale KH, Stelzer RS, Lowe WH (2005) Can’t see the forest for the stream? The capacity of instream processing to modify terrestrial nitrogen exports. BioScience 52:219–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernot M, Dodds WK (2005) Nitrogen retention, removal, and saturation in lotic ecosystems. Ecosystems 8:442–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernot MJ, Sobota DJ, Hall RO, Mulholland PJ, Dodds WK, Webster JR, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN, Gregory SV, Grimm NB, Hamilton SK, Johnson SL, McDowell WH, Meyer JL, Peterson BJ, Poole GC, Valett HM, Arango C, Beaulieu JJ, Burgin AJ, Crenshaw C, Helton AM, Johnson LT, Merriam J, Niederlehner BR, O’Brien JM, Potter JD, Sheibley RW, Thomas SM, Wilson KC (2010) Inter-regional comparison of land-use effects on stream metabolism. Freshw Biol 55:1874–1890

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs M, Gooseff M, Arp C, Baker M (2009) A method for estimating surface transient storage parameters for streams with concurrent hyporheic storage. Water Resour Res 45:W00D27

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs MA, Gooseff M, Peterson BJ, Morkeski K, Wollheim WM, Hopkinson CS (2010) Surface and hyporheic transient storage dynamics throughout a coastal stream network. Water Resour Res 46:W06516. doi:10.01029/02009WR008222

    Google Scholar 

  • Covino T, McGlynn B, McNamara R (2010) Tracer additions for spiraling curve characterization (TASCC): quantifying stream nutrient uptake kinetics from ambient to saturation. Limnol Oceanog 8:484–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronk J, Mitsch WJ (1994) Aquatic metabolism in four newly constructed freshwater wetlands with different hydrologic inputs. Ecol Eng 3:449–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deegan LA, Johnson DS, Warren RS, Peterson BJ, Fleegaer JW, Fagherazzi S, Wollheim WM (2012) Trouble on the Edge: coastal eutrophication drives salt marsh loss. Nature 490:352–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz RJ, Rosenberg R (2008) Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science 321:926–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earl SR, Valett HM, Webster JR (2006) Nitrogen saturation in stream ecosystems. Ecology 87:3140–3151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ensign SH, Doyle MW (2006) Nutrient spiraling in streams and river networks. J Geophys Res 111:G04009

    Google Scholar 

  • Ensign SH, Piehler MF, Doyle MW (2008) Riparian zone denitrification affects nitrogen flux through a tidal freshwater river. Biogeochemistry 91:133–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filoso S, Vallino JJ, Hopkinson C, Rastetter EB (2004) Modeling nitrogen transport in the Ipswich R. basin, Massachusetts, using HSPF: present conditions and future scenarios. J Am Water Resour Assoc 40:1365–1384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forshay KJ, Stanley EH (2005) Rapid nitrate loss and denitrification in a temperate river floodplain. Biogeochemistry 75:43–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galloway JN, Aber JD, Erisman JW, Seitzinger SP, Howarth RW, Cowling EB, Cosby BJ (2003) The nitrogen cascade. Bioscience 53:341–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gooseff M, Benson DA, Briggs MA, Weaver M, Wollheim WM, Peterson BJ, Hopkinson CS (2011) Residence time distributions in surface transient storage zones in streams: estimation via signal deconvolution. Water Resour Res 47:W05509. doi:10.01029/02010WR009959

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall RO, Tank JL, Sobota DJ, Mulholland PJ, O’Brien JM, Dodds WK, Webster JR, Valett HM, Poole GC, Peterson BJ, Meyer JL, McDowell WH, Johnson SL, Hamilton SK, Grimm NB, Gregory SV, Dahm CN, Cooper LW, Ashkenas LR, Thomas SM, Sheibley RW, Potter JD, Niederlehner BR, Johnson LT, Helton AM, Crenshaw CM, Burgin AJ, Bernot MJ, Beaulieu JJ, Arango CP (2009) Nitrate removal in stream ecosystems measured by (15)N addition experiments: total uptake. Limnol Oceanogr 54:653–665

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton SK, Sippel SJ, Melack JM (1995) Oxygen depletion and carbon dioxide and methane production in waters of the Pantanal wetland of Brazil. Biogeochemistry 30:115–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton SK, Sippel SJ, Calheiros DF, Melack JM (1997) An anoxic event and other biogeochemical effects of the Pantanal wetland on the Paraguay River. Limnol Oceanogr 42:257–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan J, Cohen M, Frazer T, Thomas R, Rayfiedl T, Gulley J, Martin J, Delfino J, Graham W (2010) Hydrologic and biotic influences on nitrate removal in a subtropical spring-fed river. Limnol Oceanogr 55:249–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helton AM, Poole GC, Meyer JL, Wollheim WM, Peterson BJ, Mulholland PJ, Bernhardt ES, Stanford JA, Arango C, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dodds WK, Gregory SV, Hall RO, Hamilton SK, Johnson SL, McDowell WH, Potter JD, Tank JL, Thomas SM, Valett HM, Webster JR, Zeglin L (2011) Thinking outside the channel: modeling nitrogen cycling in networked river ecosystems. Front Ecol Environ 9:229–238. doi:10.1890/080211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth RW (2001) Hypoxia, fertilizer, and the Gulf of Mexico. Science 292:1485–1486

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin RA, Harms TK, Grimm NB (2011) Chronic N loading reduces N retention across varying base flows in a desert river. J N Am Benthol Soc 30:559–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marzolf ER, Mulholland PJ, Steinman AD (1994) Improvements to the diurnal upstream-downstream dissolved oxygen change technique for determining whole-stream metabolism in small streams. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 51:1591–1599

  • McClain M, Boyer E, Dent C, Gergel S, Grimm N, Groffman PM, Hart S, Harvey J, Johnston C, Mayorga E, McDowell WH, Pinay G (2003) Biogeochemical hot spots and hot moments at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic systems. Ecosystems 6:301–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, DeAngelis DL (2000) Surface–subsurface exchange and nutrient spiraling. In: Jones JB, Mulholland PJ (eds) Streams and ground waters. Academic Press, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, Tank JL, Webster JR, Bowden WB, Dodds WK, Gregory SV, Grimm NB, Hamilton SK, Johnson SL, Marti E, McDowell WH, Merriam JL, Meyer JL, Peterson BJ, Valett HM, Wollheim WM (2002) Can uptake length in streams be determined by nutrient addition experiments? Results from an interbiome comparison study. J N Am Benthol Soc 21:544–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, Hall RO, Sobota DJ, Dodds WK, Findlay SEG, Grimm NB, Hamilton SK, McDowell WH, O’Brien JM, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN, Gregory SV, Johnson SL, Meyer JL, Peterson BJ, Poole GC, Valett HM, Webster JR, Arango CP, Beaulieu JJ, Bernot MJ, Burgin AJ, Crenshaw CL, Helton AM, Johnson LT, Niederlehner BR, Potter JD, Sheibley RW, Thomas SM (2009) Nitrate removal in stream ecosystems measured by (15)N addition experiments: denitrification. Limnol Oceanogr 54:666–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, Helton AM, Poole GC, Hall RO, Hamilton SK, Peterson BJ, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN, Dodds WK, Findlay SEG, Gregory SV, Grimm NB, Johnson SL, McDowell WH, Meyer JL, Valett HM, Webster JR, Arango CP, Beaulieu JJ, Bernot MJ, Burgin AJ, Crenshaw V, Johnson LT, Niederlehner BR, O’Brien JM, Potter JD, Sheibley RW, Sobota DJ, Thomas SM (2008) Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to anthropogenic nitrate loading. Nature 452:202–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien JM, Dodds WK, Wilson KC, Murdock JN, Eichmiller J (2007) The saturation of N cycling in Central Plains streams: 15N experiments across a broad gradient of nitrate concentrations. Biogeochemistry 84:31–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien JM, Hamilton SK, Kinsmen-Costello LE, Lennon JT, Ostrom NE (2012) Nitrogen transformations in a through-flow wetland revealed using whole-ecosystem pulsed 15N additions. Limnol Oceanogr 57:221–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Pattinson SN, Garcia-Ruiz R, Whitton BA (1998) Spatial and seasonal variation in denitrification in the Swale-Ouse system, a river continuum. Sci Total Environ 210:289–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BJ, Wollheim WM, Mulholland PJ, Webster JR, Meyer JL, Tank JL, Marti E, Bowden WB, Valett HM, Hershey AE, McDowell WH, Dodds WK, Hamilton SK, Gregory S, Morrall DD (2001) Control of nitrogen export from watersheds by headwater streams. Science 292:86–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powers SM, Johnson RA, Stanley EH (2012) Nutrient retention and the problem of hydrologic disconnection in streams and wetlands. Ecosystems 15:435–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Racchetti E, Bartolli M, Soana E, Longhi D, Christian R, Pinardi M, Viaroli P (2010) Influence of hydrological connectivity of riverine wetlands on nitrogen removal via denitrification. Biogeochemistry 103:335–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riis T, Dodds WK, Kristensen PB, Baisner AJ (2012) Nitrogen cycling and dynamics in a macrophyte-rich stream as determined by a 15N–NH4 + release. Freshw Biol 57:1579–1591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runkel R (2007) Toward a transport-based analysis of nutrient spiraling and uptake in streams. Limnol Oceanog 5:50–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seitzinger SP (1994) Linkages between organic matter mineralization and denitrification in eight riparian wetlands. Biogeochemistry 25:19–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seitzinger S, Harrison JA, Bohlke JK, Bouwman AF, Lowrance R, Peterson BJ, Tobias CR, Van Drecht G (2006) Denitrification across landscapes and waterscapes: a synthesis. Ecol Appl 6:1051–1076

    Google Scholar 

  • Song K, Lee S, Mitsch WJ, Kang H (2010) Different responses of denitrification rates and denitrifying bacterial communities to hydrologic pulsing in created wetlands. Soil Biol Biochem 42:1721–1727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart RJ, Wollheim WM, Gooseff M, Briggs MA, Jacobs JM, Peterson BJ, Hopkinson CS (2011) Separation of river network scale nitrogen removal among main channel and two transient storage compartments. Water Resour Res 47:W00J10. doi:10.1029/2010WR009896

    Google Scholar 

  • Stream Solute Workshop (1990) Concepts and methods for assessing solute dynamics in stream ecosystems. J N Am Benthol Soc 9:95–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tank JL, Rosi-Marshall EJ, Baker MA, Hall RO (2008) Are rivers just big streams? A pulse method to quantify nitrogen demand in a large river. Ecology 89:2935–2945

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas SA, Valett HM, Webster JR, Mulholland PJ (2003) A regression approach to estimating reactive solute uptake in advective and transient storage zones of stream ecosystems. Adv Water Resour 26:965–976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner RE, Rabalais NN (1994) Coastal eutrophication near the Mississippi River Delta. Nature 368:619–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vannote RL, Minshall GW, Cummins KW, Sedell JR, Cushing CE (1980) The river continuum concept. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 37:130–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward JV (1989) The four-dimensional nature of lotic ecosystems. J N Am Benthol Soc 8(1):2–8

  • Williams M, Hopkinson CH, Rastetter EB, Vallino J (2004) N budgets and aquatic uptake in the Ipswich R. basin, northeastern Massachusetts. Water Resour Res 40:W11201

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollheim WM, Pellerin BA, Vorosmarty CJ, Hopkinson CS (2005) N retention in urbanizing headwater catchments. Ecosystems 8:871–884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wollheim WM, Vorosmarty CJ, Peterson BJ, Seitzinger SP, Hopkinson CS (2006) Relationship between river size and nutrient removal. Geophys Res Lett 33. doi:10.1029/2006GL025845

  • Wollheim WM, Peterson BJ, Vorosmarty CJ, Hopkinson C, Thomas SA (2008) Dynamics of N removal over annual time scales in a suburban river network. J Geophys Res G03038. doi:10.1029/2007JG000660

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSF-OCE-1058747 and OCE-1238212 (Plum Island LTER), NSF-DEB-0614282, and NSF-CHN-0709685. We also thank Suzanne Thomas, Gretchen Gettel, Mitch Weaver, and Nat Morse for their help in the field.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    W. M. Wollheim

  2. Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    W. M. Wollheim & R. J. Stewart

  3. Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Biology & Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    T. K. Harms

  4. Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    B. J. Peterson & K. Morkeski

  5. Department of Marine Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    C. S. Hopkinson

  6. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    M. N. Gooseff

  7. Office of Groundwater, Branch of Geophysics, U.S. Geological Survey, 11 Sherman Place, Unit 5015, Storrs, CT , 06269, USA

    M. A. Briggs

Authors
  1. W. M. Wollheim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. K. Harms
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. J. Peterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K. Morkeski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C. S. Hopkinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. R. J. Stewart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. M. N. Gooseff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. M. A. Briggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. M. Wollheim.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wollheim, W.M., Harms, T.K., Peterson, B.J. et al. Nitrate uptake dynamics of surface transient storage in stream channels and fluvial wetlands. Biogeochemistry 120, 239–257 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-9993-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-9993-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation