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Stream dissolved organic matter bioavailability and composition in watersheds underlain with discontinuous permafrost

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Abstract

We examined the impact of permafrost on dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition in Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed (CPCRW), a watershed underlain with discontinuous permafrost, in interior Alaska. We analyzed long term data from watersheds underlain with varying degrees of permafrost, sampled springs and thermokarsts, used fluorescence spectroscopy, and measured the bioavailabity of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Permafrost driven patterns in hydrology and vegetation influenced DOM patterns in streams, with the stream draining the high permafrost watershed having higher DOC and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) concentrations, higher DOC:DON and greater specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA) than the streams draining the low and medium permafrost watersheds. Streams, springs and thermokarsts exhibited a wide range of DOC and DON concentrations (1.5–37.5 mgC/L and 0.14–1.26 mgN/L, respectively), DOC:DON (7.1–42.8) and SUVA (1.5–4.7 L mgC−1 m−1). All sites had a high proportion of humic components, a low proportion of protein components, and a low fluorescence index value (1.3–1.4), generally consistent with terrestrially derived DOM. Principal component analysis revealed distinct groups in our fluorescence data determined by diagenetic processing and DOM source. The proportion of bioavailable DOC ranged from 2 to 35%, with the proportion of tyrosine- and tryptophan-like fluorophores in the DOM being a major predictor of DOC loss (p < 0.05, R 2 = 0.99). Our results indicate that the degradation of permafrost in CPCRW will result in a decrease in DOC and DON concentrations, a decline in DOC:DON, and a reduction in SUVA, possibly accompanied by a change in the proportion of bioavailable DOC.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Rich Boone and Dan White for their valuable comments on the research and manuscript. Thanks to Emma Betts, Hannah Clilverd, Amanda Rinehart, Emily Schwing and Julia Taylor for their help in the field and laboratory. Thanks also to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research program (funded jointly by NSF grant DEB-0423442 and USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station grant PNW01-JV11261952-231). The EEM-PARAFAC work was supported through a NSF funded inter-LTER collaboration between the Bonanza Creek and Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research sites. SERC contribution #401.

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  1. Nagamitsu Maie

    Present address: Laboratory of Water Environment, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, Towada, Aomori, 034-8628, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 311 Irving I, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Kelly L. Balcarczyk & Jeremy B. Jones Jr.

  2. Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, OE-148, Miami, FL, 33143, USA

    Rudolf Jaffé & Nagamitsu Maie

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, OE-148, Miami, FL, 33143, USA

    Rudolf Jaffé

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  1. Kelly L. Balcarczyk
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Correspondence to Kelly L. Balcarczyk.

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Balcarczyk, K.L., Jones, J.B., Jaffé, R. et al. Stream dissolved organic matter bioavailability and composition in watersheds underlain with discontinuous permafrost. Biogeochemistry 94, 255–270 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9324-x

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