Abstract
Reservoirs show contrasting chemical and biological spatial gradients due to the strong effect of the inflowing rivers on the whole ecosystem. However, the fate of dissolved organic matter (DOM) input from rivers along the reservoir water body is still unclear. Here, we characterized the composition of DOM in the Ter River–Sau Reservoir system (Spain), located in a watershed under anthropogenic pressures (urban wastewater effluents, intensive farming, agriculture). Water samples were collected in the river several kilometers upstream of the reservoir and during its travel throughout the water body until the dam. Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was used to characterize DOM. Based on three-dimensional excitation-emission matrices (EEMs), PARAFAC produced a six-component model, most of them related to human-derived DOM and showing significant spatial trends. A component showing major influence on the overall spectroscopy signal was associated with wastewater effluents and significantly correlated with environmental variables usually linked to DOM lability. Components trends showed a major discontinuity in the vicinity of the river plunge point (river–reservoir boundary), where the composition of DOM showed noticeable changes. Upstream from the plunge point, components related to human activity dominated the spectroscopy signal, while components related to autochthonous planktonic activity appeared downstream of the plunge point. This coincided with strong heterotrophic activity as revealed by oxygen undersaturation and nutrient concentration changes. Fluorescence indices also supported a strong signature of human-derived DOM in the system and pointed to the plunge point as a likely hot spot for DOM processing.
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All data generated in this study is available from the authors upon request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Gonzalo Gonzalez, Jaime Ordóñez, and Maria de los Angeles Gallegos for support in the lab and during the fieldwork.
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NL benefited from a grant from the Erasmus program of the European Commission. Participation of RM was supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya through the Consolidated Research Group 2017SGR1124, and by the CERCA program.
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Conceptualization, RM; methodology, NL and RM; formal analysis, NL and RM; resources, RM; writing—original draft preparation, RM; writing—review and editing, RM and LV; supervision, RM; funding acquisition, RM. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Marcé, R., Verdura, L. & Leung, N. Dissolved organic matter spectroscopy reveals a hot spot of organic matter changes at the river–reservoir boundary. Aquat Sci 83, 67 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00823-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00823-6