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Carbon isotope biogeochemistry of tropical small mountainous river, estuarine, and coastal systems of Puerto Rico

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Abstract

Recent studies have shown that small mountainous rivers (SMRs) may act as sources of aged and/or refractory carbon (C) to the coastal ocean, which may increase organic C burial at sea and subsidize coastal food webs and heterotrophy. However, the characteristics and spatial and temporal variability of C and organic matter (OM) exported from tropical SMR systems remain poorly constrained. To address this, the abundance and isotopic character (δ13C and Δ14C) of the three major C pools were measured in two Puerto Rico SMRs with catchments dominated by different land uses (agricultural vs. non-agricultural recovering forest). The abundance and character of C pools in associated estuaries and adjacent coastal waters were also examined. Riverine dissolved and particulate organic C (DOC and POC, respectively) concentrations were highly variable with respect to land use and sampling month, while dissolved inorganic C (DIC) was significantly higher at all times in the agricultural catchment. In both systems, riverine DOC and POC ranged from modern to highly aged (2,340 years before present), while DIC was always modern. The agricultural river and irrigation canals contained very old DOC (1,184 and 2,340 years before present, respectively), which is consistent with findings in temperate SMRs and indicates that these tropical SMRs provide a source of aged DOC to the ocean. During months of high river discharge, OM in estuarine and coastal waters had C isotope signatures reflective of direct terrestrial input, indicating that relatively unaltered OM is transported to the coastal ocean at these times. This is also consistent with findings in temperate SMRs and indicates that C transported to the coastal ocean by SMRs may differ from that of larger rivers because it is exported from smaller catchments that have steeper terrains and fewer land-use types.

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Acknowledgments

AGG was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation (OCE-0610487 and OCE-0542415), and JEB was funded by the National Science Foundation (DEB-0234533, OCE-0327423, and EAR-0403949). RPM was a graduate student of AGG during the execution of this work and received funding from an OSU Presidential Fellowship, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the Friends of Orton Hall. We are grateful for field assistance provided by H. Anguerre, M. Canals, M. Cathey, C. Malachowski, C. Pacheco, and B. Williams. Laboratory analyses were assisted by E. Keesee, Y. Matsui, and C. Paver. WCO-IRMS measurements were made by C. Osburn at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We thank G. Burr and A. Leonard (Arizona AMS Facility) and A. McNichol and A. Gagnon (NOSAMS Facility) for assistance with 14C analyses. Finally, we are grateful to A. Carey, Y-P. Chin, M. Larsen, M. Saltzman, A. Townsend-Small, B. Williams, and two anonymous reviewers for providing constructive comments that improved the overall quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Ryan P. Moyer

    Present address: Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, 100 8th Ave. SE, St. Petersburg, 33701, FL, USA

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  1. School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, 43201, OH, USA

    Ryan P. Moyer & Andréa G. Grottoli

  2. Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1314 Kinnear Road, Columbus, 43212, OH, USA

    James E. Bauer

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Moyer, R.P., Bauer, J.E. & Grottoli, A.G. Carbon isotope biogeochemistry of tropical small mountainous river, estuarine, and coastal systems of Puerto Rico. Biogeochemistry 112, 589–612 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9751-y

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