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Longitudinal and seasonal changes in the origin and quality of transported particulate organic matter along a gravel-bed river

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Abstract

Particulate organic matter (POM) plays an important role in nutrient dynamics in river ecosystems, but little is known about changes in the origin and quality of POM in relation to physical and seasonal changes along rivers. Using stable isotope and stoichiometric analyses, we investigated the changes in origin and quality of POM of three different size fractions (fine [FPOM], 1.2–100 μm; medium [MPOM], 100–250 μm; and coarse [CPOM], 250–1,000 μm) at 14 sites along a gravel-bed river over four seasons. FPOM and MPOM accounted for 90% of all POM at all study sites. At each site, the δ13C level was lower for FPOM (range: −29.0 to −21.1‰) than for MPOM (−26.9 to −17.2‰) and CPOM (−27.5 to −16.3‰). The C:N ratio was lower for FPOM (6.9–15.6) than for MPOM (6.3–17.4) and CPOM (5.7–27.1). The contribution of periphyton to POM of all size fractions had a tendency to increase downstream, though the trend was less clear and varied seasonally for MPOM and CPOM between sites in middle and downstream reaches. Contrastively, the C:N ratio in all size fractions of POM consistently decreased downstream. The downstream decrease in the C:N ratio of POM can be partly explained by the increase in the contribution of periphyton, which seems to be associated with increased discharge and enhanced periphyton dislodgement, especially in winter. In addition, an increase in bacterial biomass associated with the greater nutrient availability in pool areas is another possible reason for the decrease in the C:N ratio of POM downstream.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Toyohashi Office of River and the Shitara Dam Construction Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism for their cooperation and research support. We also thank K. Nakata, M. Fujiwara, and Y. Yajima for help with the fieldwork. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and critical comments. This study was funded by the Ise Bay Eco-compatible River Basin Research Project of the Council of Science and Technology Policy, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan.

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  1. Kunihiko Amano

    Present address: River Environment Division, National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, 1 Asahi, Tsukuba, 305-0804, Japan

  2. Yurika Oshima

    Present address: Tokushima Office of River and National Highway, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 3-35 kamiyoshino, Tokushima, 775-8540, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Environment Research Group, Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, 305-8516, Japan

    Fumikazu Akamatsu, Sohei Kobayashi, Kunihiko Amano, Satoru Nakanishi & Yurika Oshima

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  1. Fumikazu Akamatsu
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  2. Sohei Kobayashi
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Correspondence to Fumikazu Akamatsu.

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Akamatsu, F., Kobayashi, S., Amano, K. et al. Longitudinal and seasonal changes in the origin and quality of transported particulate organic matter along a gravel-bed river. Hydrobiologia 669, 183–197 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0682-8

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