HR: 16:45h
AN: H34C-04 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Microbes, fluvial networks and carbon fluxes from land to the ocean
AU: * Battin, T J
EM: tom.battin@univie.ac.at
AF: Univ Vienna, Althanstr, Vienna, 1090, Austria
AU: Kaplan, L A
AF: SWRC, Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311, United States
AU: Findlay, S
AF: IES, 65 Sharon Turn Pike, Millbrook, NY 12545-0129, United States
AU: Hopkinson, C S
AF: MBL, 7 MBL STreet, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
AU: Packman, A
AF: Northwestern University, Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3109, United States
AU: Newbold, D
AF: SWRC, Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311, United States
AB: Metabolism in freshwater ecosystems of terrestrial organic carbon provides a major source of CO2 outgassing to the atmosphere. This contradicts the conventional wisdom that terrestrial organic carbon is recalcitrant and contributes little to the support of aquatic metabolism. We combine recent progress from geophysics, microbial ecology and organic geochemistry to show how the juxtaposition of geophysical opportunity and microbial capacity enhances the net heterotrophy in streams, rivers and estuaries. We identify hydrologic storage and retention zones that extend the residence time of organic carbon during downstream transport and thus provide opportunities for microorganisms to develop as attached biofilms or suspended aggregates, and to metabolize organic carbon for energy and growth. We consider fluvial networks within a meta-ecosystem context to include the acclimation of microbial communities in downstream ecosystems to exploit energy that "escapes" from upstream ecosystems and thereby increases overall energy utilization at the network level. Our interdisciplinary approach emphasises the coupled physical, chemical and microbial processes across various scales that may serve to enhance the predictability of carbon cycling in fluvial ecosystems.
DE: 1615 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0414, 0793, 4805, 4912)
DE: 1655 Water cycles (1836)
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects (4802, 4902)
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
DE: 1836 Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting