Evidence for self-organization in determining spatial patterns of stream nutrients, despite primacy of the geomorphic template.

ABSTRACT: Nutrients in freshwater ecosystems are highly variable in space and time. Nevertheless, the variety of processes contributing to nutrient patchiness, and the wide range of spatial and temporal scales at which these processes operate, obfuscate how this spatial heterogeneity is generated. Here, we describe the spatial structure of stream nutrient concentration, quantify the relative importance of the physical template and biological processes, and detect and evaluate the role of self-organization in driving such patterns. We examined nutrient spatial patterns in Sycamore Creek, an intermittent desert stream in Arizona that experienced an ecosystem regime shift [from a gravel/algae-dominated to a vascular plant-dominated (hereafter, "wetland") system] in 2000 when cattle grazing ceased. We c

SUBMITTER: Dong X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5474805 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature