Dataset Information

Hierarchical climate-driven dynamics of the active channel length in temporary streams.

ABSTRACT: Looking across a landscape, river networks appear deceptively static. However, flowing streams expand and contract following ever-changing hydrological conditions of the surrounding environment. Despite the ecological and biogeochemical value of rivers with discontinuous flow, deciphering the temporary nature of streams and quantifying their extent remains challenging. Using a unique observational dataset spanning diverse geomorphoclimatic settings, we demonstrate the existence of a general hierarchical structuring of river network dynamics. Specifically, temporary stream activation follows a fixed and repeatable sequence, in which the least persistent sections activate only when the most persistent ones are already flowing. This hierarchical phenomenon not only facilitates monitoring activities, but enables the development of a general mathematical framework that elucidates how climate drives temporal variations in the active stream length. As the climate gets drier, the average fraction of the flowing network decreases while its relative variability increases. Our study provides a novel conceptual basis for characterizing temporary streams and quantifying their ecological and biogeochemical impacts.

SUBMITTER: Botter G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8563734 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hierarchical climate-driven dynamics of the active channel length in temporary streams.

Botter Gianluca G Vingiani Filippo F Senatore Alfonso A Jensen Carrie C Weiler Markus M McGuire Kevin K Mendicino Giuseppe G Durighetto Nicola N

Scientific reports 20211102 1

Looking across a landscape, river networks appear deceptively static. However, flowing streams expand and contract following ever-changing hydrological conditions of the surrounding environment. Despite the ecological and biogeochemical value of rivers with discontinuous flow, deciphering the temporary nature of streams and quantifying their extent remains challenging. Using a unique observational dataset spanning diverse geomorphoclimatic settings, we demonstrate the existence of a general hier ...[more]

PMID: 34728691

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Project description:Microbial communities are responsible for the bulk of biogeochemical processing in temporary headwater streams, yet there is still relatively little known about how community structure and function respond to periodic drying. Moreover, the ability to sample temporary habitats can be a logistical challenge due to the limited capability to measure and predict the timing, intensity and frequency of wet-dry events. Unsurprisingly, published datasets on microbial community structure and function are limited in scope and temporal resolution and vary widely in the molecular methods applied. We compared environmental and microbial community datasets for permanent and temporary tributaries of two different North American headwater stream systems: Speed River (Ontario, Canada) and Parkers Creek (Maryland, USA). We explored whether taxonomic diversity and community composition were altered as a result of flow permanence and compared community composition amongst streams using different 16S microbial community methods (i.e., T-RFLP and Illumina MiSeq). Contrary to our hypotheses, and irrespective of method, community composition did not respond strongly to drying. In both systems, community composition was related to site rather than drying condition. Additional network analysis on the Parkers Creek dataset indicated a shift in the central microbial relationships between temporary and permanent streams. In the permanent stream at Parkers Creek, associations of methanotrophic taxa were most dominant, whereas associations with taxa from the order Nitrospirales were more dominant in the temporary stream, particularly during dry conditions. We compared these results with existing published studies from around the world and found a wide range in community responses to drying. We conclude by proposing three hypotheses that may address contradictory results and, when tested across systems, may expand understanding of the responses of microbial communities in temporary streams to natural and human-induced fluctuations in flow-status and permanence.

Dataset Information

Hierarchical climate-driven dynamics of the active channel length in temporary streams.

Publications

Hierarchical climate-driven dynamics of the active channel length in temporary streams.

Similar Datasets

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