2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/24/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | LOW FLOW AND HEATWAVES ALTER ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING IN A STREAM MESOCOSM EXPERIMENT | Virtual Platform
LOW FLOW AND HEATWAVES ALTER ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING IN A STREAM MESOCOSM EXPERIMENT
Climate change is expected to intensify the frequency of extreme events, such as low flow and heatwaves, with potentially significant impacts for stream ecosystem functioning. Here, we examined the effect of low flow and heatwaves individually and combined on a suite of ecosystem processes in a stream mesocosm experiment. Habitat contraction was the main driver of reduced ecosystem functioning in the low flow treatment, suppressing metabolism, but elevating DOC concentration. By contrast, heatwaves increased decomposition, algal accrual, and humic-like DOC, but reduced leaf decomposition efficiency. Assessment of NEP responses to the three successive heatwave events revealed that responses later in the sequence were more similar to controls, suggesting that biofilm communities may acclimate to autumn heatwaves. However, when heatwaves co-occurred with low flow, a strong reduction in both ER and GPP was observed, suggesting increased microbial mortality and reduced acclimation. Our study reveals autumn heatwaves will potentially elongate the growth season for primary producers and stimulate decomposers. With climate change, river ecosystems may become more heterotrophic, with faster processing of recalcitrant carbon.
- Flow
- Microbial ecology
- Organic matter
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Presenters/Authors
Raquel Arias Font
(), Univerisity of Birmingham, R.AriasFont@bham.ac.uk;
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