Abstract
Quantification of the transient storage zone (As) has become critical in stream biogeochemical studies addressed to examine factors controlling nutrient uptake. It is expected that higher As may enhance the interaction between nutrients and biota and thus, increase nutrient uptake. However, results from the literature are controversial. We hypothesized that besides of the size of As, the intrinsic physical and biological characteristics of stream structures that generate As are also relevant for nutrient uptake. We performed 24 additions of phosphate, ammonium, and chloride in four reaches of a man-made channel where we introduced three types of naturally colonized substrata packs (mud, sand and cobbles) to modify As. We estimated ammonium and phosphate uptake coefficients in both the main channel and As using a solute transport model (OTIS-P) and compared the results among reaches with different substrata types. The introduction of substrata packs decreased water velocity and increased As similarly among treatments. Nutrient uptake coefficients in the main channel were similar among reaches with different type substrata packs; however, nutrient uptake coefficients measured in As differed among them as well as the ratio between ammonium and phosphorus uptake coefficients in As, which were 1.6 in reaches with mud packs and 0.02 in reaches with sand or cobble packs. Results obtained in this study suggest that the contribution of As in nutrient uptake not only depends on the size of As but on the type of materials used to increase As, and thus, have biogeochemical implications on restoration projects aimed to modify channel morphology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander RB, Smith RA, Schwarz GE (2000) Effect of stream channel size on the delivery of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico. Nature 403:758–761
APHA (1998) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 19th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC
Argerich A, Martí E, Sabater F, Ribot M, von Schiller D, Riera J (2008) Combined effects of leaf litter inputs and a flood on nutrient retention in a Mediterranean mountain stream during fall. Limnol Oceanogr 53:631–641
Battin TJ, Kaplan LA, Findlay S, Hopkinson CS, Martí E, Packman AI, Newbold JD, Sabater F (2008) Biophysical controls on organic carbon fluxes in fluvial networks. Nat Geosci 1:95–100
Bencala KE, Walters RA (1983) Simulation of solute transport in a mountain pool-and-riffle stream: a transient storage model. Water Resour Res 19:718–724
Bukaveckas PA (2007) Effects of channel restoration on water velocity, transient storage, and nutrient uptake in a channelized stream. Environ Sci Technol 41:1570–1576
Butturini A, Sabater F (1999) Importance of transient storage zones for ammonium and phosphate retention in a sandy-bottom Mediterranean stream. Freshw Biol 41:593–603
Ensign SH, Doyle MW (2005) In-channel transient storage and associated nutrient retention: evidence from experimental manipulations. Limnol Oceanogr 50:1740–1751
Ensign SH, Doyle MW (2006) Nutrient spiraling in streams and river networks. J Geophys Res 111:G04009. doi:10.1029/2005JG000114
Fellows CS, Valett HM, Dahm CN, Mulholland PJ, Thomas SA (2006) Coupling nutrient uptake and energy flow in headwater streams. Ecosystems 9:788–804
Fisher S, Grimm NB, Martí E, Holmes RM, Kaplan LA (1998) Material spiraling in stream corridors: a telescoping ecosystem model. Ecosystems 1:19–34
Gordon ND, McMahon TA, Finlayson BL (1992) Stream hydrology: an introduction for ecologists. Wiley, Chichester
Gücker B, Pusch MT (2006) Regulation of nutrient uptake in eutrophic lowland streams. Limnol Oceanogr 51:1443–1453
Hall RO, Bernhardt ES, Likens GE (2002) Relating nutrient uptake with transient storage in forested mountain streams. Limnol Oceanogr 47:255–265
Holmes RM, McClelland JW, Sigman DM, Fry B, Peterson BJ (1998) Measuring 15N–NH4 + in marine, estuarine and fresh waters: an adaptation of the ammonia diffusion method for samples with low ammonium concentrations. Mar Chem 60:235–243
Lautz LK, Siegel DI (2007) The effect of transient storage on nitrate uptake lengths in streams: an inter-site comparison. Hydrol Process 21:3533–3548
Lautz LK, Siegel DI, Bauer RL (2006) Impact of debris dams on hyporheic interaction along a semi-arid stream. Hydrol Process 20:183–196
McClain ME, Boyer EW, Dent CL, Gergel SE, Grimm NB, Groffman PM, Hart SC, Harvey JW, Johnston CA, Mayorga E, Mcdowell WH, Pinay G (2003) Biogeochemical hot spots and hot moments at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecosystems 6:301–312
McKnight DM, Runkel RL, Tate CM, Duff JH, Moorhead DL (2004) Inorganic N and P dynamics of Antarctic glacial meltwater streams as controlled by hyporheic exchange and benthic autotrophic communities. J North Am Benthol Soc 23:171–188
Morrice JA, Valett HM, Dahm CN, Campana ME (1997) Alluvial characteristics, groundwater-surface water exchange and hydrological retention in headwater streams. Hydrol Process 11:253–267
Mulholland PJ (2004) The importance of in-stream uptake for regulating stream concentrations and outputs of N and P from a forested watershed: evidence from long-term chemistry records for Walker Branch Watershed. Biogeochemistry 70:403–426
Mulholland PJ, Tank JL, Sanzone DM, Wollheim WM, Peterson BJ, Webster JR, Meyer JL (2000) Nitrogen cycling in a forest stream determined by a 15N tracer addition. Ecol Monogr 70:471–493
Mulholland PJ, Helton AM, Poole GC, Hall RO, Hamilton SK, Peterson BJ, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN (2008) Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to anthropogenic nitrate loading. Nature 452:202–205
Peterson BJ, Wollheim WM, Mulholland PJ, Webster JR, Meyer JL, Tank JL, Martí 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
Roberts BJ, Mulholland PJ, Houser JN (2007) Effects of upland disturbance and instream restoration on hydrodynamics and ammonium uptake in headwater streams. J North Am Benthol Soc 26:38–53
Runkel RL (1998) One-dimensional transport with inflow and storage (OTIS): A solute transport model for streams and rivers. US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation report 98-4018. US Geologica, Survey, Denver. Available from http://co.water.usgs.gov/otis
Runkel RL (2002) A new metric for determining the importance of transient storage. J North Am Benthol Soc 21:529–543
Runkel RL (2007) Toward a transport-based analysis of nutrient spiraling and uptake in streams. Limnol Oceanogr Meth 5:50–62
Ryan RJ, Packman AI, Kilham SS (2007) Relating phosphorus uptake to changes in transient storage and streambed sediment characteristics in headwater tributaries of Valley Creek, an urbanizing watershed. J Hydrol 336:444–457
Simon KA, Townsend CR, Biggs JS, Bowden WB (2005) Temporal variation of N and P uptake in 2 New Zealand streams. J North Am Benthol Soc 24:1–18
Tank JL, Meyer JL, Sanzone DM, Mulholland PJ, Webster JR, Peterson BJ, Wollheim WM, Leonard NE (2000) Analysis of nitrogen cycling in a forest stream during autumn using a 15 N-tracer addition. Limnol Oceanogr 45:1013–1029
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
Triska FJ, Kennedy VC, Avanzino RJ, Zellweger GW, Bencala KE (1989) Retention and transport of nutrients in a third-order stream in Northwestern California: hyporheic processes. Ecology 70:1893–1905
Valett HM, Morrice JA, Dahm CN (1996) Parent lithology, groundwater-surface water exchange and nitrate retention in headwater streams. Limnol Oceanogr 41:333–345
von Schiller D, Martí E, Riera J, Sabater F (2007) Effects of nutrients and light on periphyton biomass and nitrogen uptake in Mediterranean streams with contrasting land uses. Freshw Biol 52:891–906
Wagner BJ, Harvey JW (1997) Experimental design for estimating parameters of rate-limited mass transfer: analysis of stream transfer studies. Water Resour Res 33:1731–1741
Webster JR, Mulholland PJ, Tank JL, Valett HM, Dodds WK, Peterson BJ, Bowden WB, Dahm CN, Findlay S, Gregory SV, Grimm NB, Hamilton SK, Johnson SL, Martí E, Mcdowell WH, Meyer JL, Morrall DD, Thomas SA, Wollheim WM (2003) Factors affecting ammonium uptake in stream: an inter-biome perspective. Freshw Biol 48:1329–1352
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Daniel von Schiller and Simone Mariani for their comments and discussions on earlier drafts that helped to develop the paper, Rob Runkel for his help on the use of OTIS-P, and Susanna Pla for her laboratory assistance. Financial support was provided by the European Union through the EURO-LIMPACS project (ref. GOCE-CT-2003-505540, http://www.eurolimpacs.ucl.ac.uk), by the Spanish Government through the NICON project (ref. CGL2005-07362-C02), and by the National Science Foundation (EAR 04-09534 and EAR 08-38338).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Argerich, A., Martí, E., Sabater, F. et al. Influence of transient storage on stream nutrient uptake based on substrata manipulation. Aquat Sci 73, 365–376 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-011-0184-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-011-0184-9