Disproportionate Contribution of Riparian Inputs to Organic Carbon Pools in Freshwater Systems.

ABSTRACT: A lack of appropriate proxies has traditionally hampered our ability to distinguish riverine organic carbon (OC) sources at the landscape scale. However, the dissection of C₄ grasslands by C₃-enriched riparian vegetation, and the distinct carbon stable isotope signature (δ¹³C) of these two photosynthetic pathways, provides a unique setting to assess the relative contribution of riparian and more distant sources to riverine C pools. Here, we compared δ¹³C signatures of bulk sub-basin vegetation (δ¹³C_VEG) with those of riverine OC pools for a wide range of sites within two contrasting river basins in Madagascar. Although C₃-derived carbon dominated in the eastern Rianala catchment, consistent with the dominant veget

SUBMITTER: Marwick TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4133959 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature