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Landscape Influences on Ecosystem Function: Local and Routing Control of Oxygen Dynamics in a Floodplain Aquifer

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Abstract

Perspectives addressing either “local” or “routing” control over ecological form and function alternatively emphasize ambient conditions or recognize that form and processes at one location may be heavily influenced by other points in space. In their natural state, floodplains of montane gravel-bed rivers are organized laterally into parafluvial zones, where scour occurs annually, and orthofluvial environments, within which active (that is, early successional) and passive (that is, late successional) zones differ in regard to flooding influences. Vertically, these rivers interact with extensive alluvial aquifers throughout the length of their floodplains. We addressed how local and routing controls organize riverscape structure and function by investigating seasonal dynamics of interstitial dissolved oxygen (DO) vertically within the alluvial aquifer, longitudinally along flowpaths, and laterally across active and passive orthofluvial (PO) zones in the Nyack floodplain, Middle Fork Flathead River, MT. Groundwater DO was positively correlated to pH and negatively correlated electrical conductivity (EC) across all seasons. In some wells (7 of 19), DO was significantly lower and EC greater at shallow depths, and the magnitudes of vertical zonation were related to dissolved organic carbon concentrations. Longitudinal declines in DO were always and exclusively observed along flowpaths of the PO zone. At the same time, persistent hypoxic patches within the active orthofluvial environment suggest metabolic hotspots that contribute to local control of physicochemistry. In ecosystems heavily influenced by material transport, local and routing controls may be manifested simultaneously as distinct patterns of organization, which are expressed at different spatial and temporal scales.

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Acknowledgments

Major funding and material support was provided by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant EAR-0120523 to JAS, and DDIG (NSF 02-173) to FRH and BLR. Thanks to Curtis Monteau who was supported by NSF UMEB DEB-9975365. Support for HM Valett was provided to HMV by NSF EPSCoR Track-1 EPS-1101342 (INSTEP 3) through the MT Institute on Ecosystems and by NSF MCB-0348773 to JAS and NSF EPS-0701906 to FRH. Diane Whited provided the kriging analyses and graphics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812, USA

    H. Maurice Valett, F. Richard Hauer & Jack A. Stanford

  2. Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, 32125 Bio Station Lane, Polson, Montana, 59860, USA

    F. Richard Hauer & Jack A. Stanford

  3. Montana Institute on Ecosystems, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA

    H. Maurice Valett, F. Richard Hauer & Jack A. Stanford

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  1. H. Maurice Valett
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Correspondence to H. Maurice Valett.

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Author Contributions

HMV conducted analysis of the data and wrote the paper with input from FRH and JAS. FRH and JAS designed the original study and supervised collection of the original data.

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Valett, H.M., Hauer, F.R. & Stanford, J.A. Landscape Influences on Ecosystem Function: Local and Routing Control of Oxygen Dynamics in a Floodplain Aquifer. Ecosystems 17, 195–211 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9717-5

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