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Urbanization increases carbon concentration and pCO2 in subtropical streams

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Abstract

Urbanization growth may alter the hydrologic conditions and processes driving carbon concentrations in aquatic systems through local changes in land use. Here, we explore dissolved carbon concentrations (DIC and DOC) along urbanization gradient in Santa Catarina Island to evaluate potential increase of CO2 in streams. Additionally, we assessed chemical, physical, and biotic variables to evaluate direct and indirect effects of urbanization in watersheds. We defined 3 specific urbanization levels: high (> 15% urbanized area), medium (15–5% urbanized area), and low (< 5% urbanized area) urbanization. The results showed that local changes due to growth of urban areas into watersheds altered the carbon concentrations in streams. DOC and DIC showed high concentrations in higher urbanization levels. The watersheds with an urban building area above 5% showed pCO2 predominantly above the equilibrium with the atmosphere. These findings reveal that local modifications in land use may contribute to changes in global climate by altering the regional carbon balance in streams.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Santa Catarina Environmental Resources and Hydrometeorology Information Center (EPAGRI/CIRAM), Institute of Urban Planning of Florianópolis (IPUF), Nuclear Energy Center of Agriculture-Federal University of São Paulo (CENA-USP), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and Federal University of Santa Catarina (LAPAD-UFSC) for providing data, assistance for field, and laboratory equipments.

Funding

This study was funded by FAPESC, and the first author was supported by CAPES, both funding agencies from Brazil.

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  1. UFSC, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Ecology and Zoology, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Michelle das Neves Lopes, Cleiton Juarez Decarli, Lorena Pinheiro-Silva, Thiago Cesar Lima, Nei Kavaguichi Leite & Mauricio Mello Petrucio

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  1. Michelle das Neves Lopes
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Correspondence to Michelle das Neves Lopes.

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das Neves Lopes, M., Decarli, C.J., Pinheiro-Silva, L. et al. Urbanization increases carbon concentration and pCO2 in subtropical streams. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 18371–18381 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08175-8

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