Partitioning carbon sources between wetland and well-drained ecosystems to a tropical first-order stream – implications for carbon cycling at the watershed scale (Nyong, Cameroon)

Tropical rivers emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere, in particular due to large wetland-to-river carbon (C) inputs. Yet, tropical African rivers remain largely understudied, and little is known about the partitioning of C sources between wetland and well-drained ecosystems to rivers. In a first-order sub-catchment (0.6 km2) of the Nyong watershed (Cameroon 27 800 km2), we fortnightly measured C in all forms and ancillary parameters in groundwater in a well-drained forest (hereafter referred to as non-flooded forest groundwater) and in the stream. In the first-order catchment, the simple land use shared between wetland and well-drained forest, together with drainage data, allowed the partitioning of C sources between wetland and well-drained ecosystems to the stream. Also, we fortnightly measured dissolved and particulate C downstream of the first-order stream to the main stem of order 6, and we supplemented C measurements with measures of heterotrophic respiration in stream orders 1 and 5. In the first-order stream, dissolved organic and inorganic C and particulate organic C (POC) concentrations increased during rainy seasons when the hydrological connectivity with the riparian wetland increased, whereas the concentrations of the same parameters decreased during dry seasons when the wetland was shrinking. In larger streams (order > 1), the same seasonality was observed, showing that wetlands in headwaters were significant sources of organic and inorganic C for downstream rivers, even though higher POC concentration evidenced an additional source of POC in larger streams during rainy seasons that was most likely POC originating from floating macrophytes. During rainy seasons, the seasonal flush of organic matter from the wetland in the first-order catchment and from the macrophytes in higher-order rivers significantly affected downstream metabolism, as evidenced by higher respiration rates in stream order 5 (756 ± 333 gC-CO2 m−2 yr−1) compared to stream 1 (286 ± 228 gC-CO2 m−2 yr−1). In the first-order catchment, the sum of the C hydrologically exported from non-flooded forest groundwater (6.2 ± 3.0 MgC yr−1) and wetland (4.0 ± 1.5 MgC yr−1) to the stream represented 3 %–5 % of the local catchment net C sink. In the first-order catchment, non-flooded forest groundwater exported 1.6 times more C than wetland; however, when weighed by surface area, C inputs from non-flooded forest groundwater and wetland to the stream contributed to 27 % (13.0 ± 6.2 MgC yr−1) and 73 % (33.0 ± 12.4 MgC yr−1) of the total hydrological C inputs, respectively. At the Nyong watershed scale, the yearly integrated CO2 degassing from the entire river network was 652 ± 161 GgC-CO2 yr−1 (23.4 ± 5.8 MgC CO2 km−2 yr−1 when weighed by the Nyong watershed surface area), whereas average heterotrophic respiration in the river and CO2 degassing rates was 521 ± 403 and 5085 ± 2544 gC-CO2 m−2 yr−1, which implied that only ∼ 10 % of the CO2 degassing at the water–air interface was supported by heterotrophic respiration in the river. In addition, the total fluvial C export to the ocean of 191 ± 108 GgC yr−1 (10.3 ± 5.8 MgC km−2 yr−1 when weighed by the Nyong watershed surface area) plus the yearly integrated CO2 degassing from the entire river network represented ∼ 11 % of the net C sink estimated for the whole Nyong watershed. In tropical watersheds, we show that wetlands largely influence riverine C variations and budget. Thus, ignoring the river–wetland connectivity might lead to the misrepresentation of C dynamics in tropical watersheds.

Temporal variation of patch connectivity determines biodiversity recovery from recurrent disturbances

Understanding the capacity of ecological systems to withstand and recover from disturbances is a major challenge for ecological research in the context of environmental change. Disturbances have multi-scale effects: they can cause species extinctions locally and alter connectivity between habitat patches at the metacommunity level. Yet, our understanding of how disturbances influence landscape connectivity remains limited. To fill this gap, we develop a novel connectivity index that integrates the temporal variation of patch connectivity induced by disturbances, which can be applied to any spatially-structured habitat. We then combine this index with a metacommunity model to specifically investigate biodiversity recovery from drying events in river network metacommunities. We demonstrate that patch connectivity explains variations of species richness between groups of organisms with contrasting dispersal modes and captures the effect of drying intensity (i.e., fraction of patches that dry-up) and drying location on community recovery. As a general rule, loss of patch connectivity decreases community recovery, regardless of patch location in the river network, dispersal mode, or drying intensity. Local communities of flying organisms maintained higher patch connectivity in drying river networks compared to organisms with strictly aquatic dispersal, which explained the higher recovery capacity of this group from drying events. The general relationship between patch connectivity and community recovery we found can be applied to any spatial network subject to temporal variation of connectivity, thus providing a powerful tool for biodiversity management in dynamic landscapes.

UAV Thermal Images for Water Presence Detection in a Mediterranean Headwater Catchment

As Mediterranean streams are highly dynamic, reconstructing space–time water presence in such systems is particularly important for understanding the expansion and contraction phases of the flowing network and the related hydro–ecological processes. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can support such monitoring when wide or inaccessible areas are investigated. In this study, an innovative method for water presence detection in the river network based on UAV thermal infrared remote sensing (TIR) images supported by RGB images is evaluated using data gathered in a representative catchment located in Southern Italy. Fourteen flights were performed at different times of the day in three periods, namely, October 2019, February 2020, and July 2020, at two different heights leading to ground sample distances (GSD) of 2 cm and 5 cm. A simple methodology that relies on the analysis of raw data without any calibration is proposed. The method is based on the identification of the thermal signature of water and other land surface elements targeted by the TIR sensor using specific control matrices in the image. Regardless of the GSD, the proposed methodology allows active stream identification under weather conditions that favor sufficient drying and heating of the surrounding bare soil and vegetation. In the surveys performed, ideal conditions for unambiguous water detection in the river network were found with air–water thermal differences higher than 5 °C and accumulated reference evapotranspiration before the survey time of at least 2.4 mm. Such conditions were not found during cold season surveys, which provided many false water pixel detections, even though allowing the extraction of useful information. The results achieved led to the definition of tailored strategies for flight scheduling with different levels of complexity, the simplest of them based on choosing early afternoon as the survey time. Overall, the method proved to be effective, at the same time allowing simplified monitoring with only TIR and RGB images, avoiding any photogrammetric processes, and minimizing postprocessing efforts.

Cartographic analysis of the distribution of degraded lands (on the example of the Рoltava region)

Cartographic analysis can be considered as one of the means of the land monitoringsystem, in particular, by the distribution of degradation processes. The work is proposed to createfor regions of cartogram of total distribution of degraded agricultural land and cartograms offraction of agricultural lands that have undergone water and wind erosion, acidification, salinization,with indispensable drawing on these cartograms of the river network scheme. The zoning of the Poltava region is presented and analyzed in terms of the total distribution ofdegraded agricultural land, as well as separately by the particles of water, wind erosion,acidification, salinization.According to the relative distribution of degraded agricultural lands (without taking intoaccount the overlap of various types of degradation) within the Poltava region, there are 2 groups ofdistricts of increased land degradation: 1) northern (covers 7 districts – Pyriatyn, Chornukhy, Lubny,Lokhvytsia, Myrhorod, Hadiach, Zinkiv) and 2) southeastern (covers 3 districts – Kobeliaky, NoviSanzhary and Mashivka).Water erosion is inherent in districts with significant difference in heights and largest forestcover. This is primarily Dykanka, Zinkiv, Reshetylivka districts (watershed between rivers of Psel andVorskla), Lokhvytsia and Chornukhy districts (watershed between rivers of Sula and Udai) and theChutove district (watershed between rivers of Vorskla and Orel). Wind erosion covers predominantlynorthwestern, north and southeastern districts – Pyriatyn, Chornukhy, Hrebinka, Lokhvytsia,Hadiach, Mashivka, Novi Sanzhary.Cartograms of distribution of degraded land are supplemented by the river network on them.The method of their creation is described. The cartographic method is substantiated by theinterconnection of the districts of increased acidification of soils with basins of the rivers Udai andVorskla, and the districts of minimum acidification of soils – with the basin of the river Khorol.Salinization of soils of the Poltava region should be associated, obviously not with superficial,and with groundwater. In the future, it is recommended to use for a cartographic analysis of thedistribution of degraded lands additionally maps of groundwater hydroisogyps.

Bending of the concentration discharge relationship can inform about in-stream nitrate removal

Nitrate (NO3-) excess in rivers harms aquatic ecosystems and can induce detrimental algae growths in coastal areas. Riverine NO3- uptake is a crucial element of the catchment-scale nitrogen balance and can be measured at small spatiotemporal scales, while at the scale of entire river networks, uptake measurements are rarely available. Concurrent, low-frequency NO3- concentration and streamflow (Q) observations at a basin outlet, however, are commonly monitored and can be analyzed in terms of concentration discharge (C–Q) relationships. Previous studies suggest that steeper positive log (C)–log (Q) slopes under low flow conditions (than under high flows) are linked to biological NO3- uptake, creating a bent rather than linear log (C)–log (Q) relationship. Here we explore if network-scale NO3- uptake creates bent log (C)–log (Q) relationships and when in turn uptake can be quantified from observed low-frequency C–Q data. To this end we apply a parsimonious mass-balance-based river network uptake model in 13 mesoscale German catchments (21–1450 km2) and explore the linkages between log (C)–log (Q) bending and different model parameter combinations. The modeling results show that uptake and transport in the river network can create bent log (C)–log (Q) relationships at the basin outlet from log–log linear C–Q relationships describing the NO3- land-to-stream transfer. We find that within the chosen parameter range the bending is mainly shaped by geomorphological parameters that control the channel reactive surface area rather than by the biological uptake velocity itself. Further we show that in this exploratory modeling environment, bending is positively correlated to percentage of NO3- load removed in the network (Lr.perc) but that network-wide flow velocities should be taken into account when interpreting log (C)–log (Q) bending. Classification trees, finally, can successfully predict classes of low (∼4 %), intermediate (∼32 %) and high (∼68 %) Lr.perc using information on water velocity and log (C)–log (Q) bending. These results can help to identify stream networks that efficiently attenuate NO3- loads based on low-frequency NO3- and Q observations and generally show the importance of the channel geomorphology on the emerging log (C)–log (Q) bending at network scales.

Connection between Anthropogenic Water Diversion and Hydrodynamic Condition in Plain River Network

The increase in the rate of water renewal driven by hydrodynamics contributes to improving the water quality of the plain river network. Taking the lakeside river network in Wuxi as an example, through numerical simulation, polynomial fitting, correlation analysis, and principal component analysis, the hydrodynamic responses of urban lake-connected river networks to water diversion and hydrodynamic grouping were researched. Based on numerical model and influence weight analysis, we explored the improvement of hydrodynamic conditions of plain river network with strong human intervention and high algal water diversion. The results showed that: (1) The relationship between water diversion impact on river network flow velocity and water diversion flux was not as simple a linear relationship. It could be reflected by polynomial. The water transfer interval in dry season with high hydrodynamic efficiency (HE) was lower than 10 m3/s and higher than 30 m3/s, and the HE increased significantly when the water transfer flow was higher than 20 m3/s in the wet season. (2) According to the main hydrodynamic driving factors, the channels in the river network could be divided into three types: water conservancy projects, river and lake water level difference, and river channel characteristic. The correlations of rivers’ flow velocity in each group were very high. (3) The influence weights of water conservancy projects, river and lake water level difference, and river channel characteristic on the whole river network dynamics were 65, 21, and 12.4%, respectively, and the other factors contributed 1.6% of the weight.