Stream nitrate enrichment and increased light yet no algal response following forest harvest and experimental manipulation of headwater riparian zones.

ABSTRACT: Disturbances to forested watersheds often result in increases of nutrients and light to nearby streams. Such changes are generally expected to produce a shift to a more autotrophic aquatic ecosystem, with measurable increases in algae, and associated implications for food webs and fisheries. Although this paradigm is widely established, results from our 10-year study (2007-2016) in 12 headwater streams and four sites downstream in the Trask River Watershed (Oregon, USA), did not concur. In 2012, one watershed was thinned, three were clearcut harvested with variable buffers and three with uniform riparian buffers. After harvest, light to the stream surface significantly increased at the three watersheds with variable buffers while dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) significantly increased i

SUBMITTER: Johnson SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10118188 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature