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Seasonal weather effects on hydrology drive the metabolism of non-forest lowland streams

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Abstract

Weather variations change stream hydrological conditions, affecting the stream function. A seasonal study in three well-conserved first-order Pampean streams was carried out to test the hypothesis that rainfalls are the main drivers of whole-stream metabolism, through their effects on hydrology. We estimated the stream metabolism and metabolic contribution of six relevant communities (angiosperms, macroalgae, seston, epiphyton, epipelon, and hyporheos) during late spring, summer, and winter and examined the relation between gross primary production (GPP) and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). Our results showed that the decrease in available streambed light due to the dissolved organic carbon after rainfalls was the main factor related to the decrease in the ecosystem and community metabolisms. For instance, GPP oscillated from ~10 gO2 m−2 d−1 in early spring (low flows) to ~3 gO2 m−2 d−1 in summer (high flows). Ecosystem respiration (ER) was less sensitive than GPP to rainfalls due to the increase of hyporheic respiration. Rainfalls also caused a significant loss of downstream macroalgal biomass. At a day scale, the high PAR of late spring and summer saturated GPP during the afternoon, and the low temperature of winter mornings constrained GPP. Hence, the knowledge of weather changes is key to understanding the main hydrological drivers of stream function.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Amarú Olivia Leggieri. We wish to thank Julieta De Anna, Martín Da Silva, Eduardo Zunino, Carolina Rodríguez Castro, Ricardo Leggieri, and Carolina Vilches for field assistance and Dr Julie Sanford, Dr. C. Coviella, and M. V. Gonzalez Eusevi for improving the English text. The manuscript has benefited greatly from the comments of Dr L. M. Bini and the two anonymous reviewers. The study was supported by the FONCyT (Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva), the National University of Luján (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and the BBVA Fundation. L. Leggieri is a PRH (ANCYPT-UNLu) doctorate fellow.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program of Biogeochemistry of Freshwater Ecosystems, Department of Basic Sciences, National University of Luján, C.C. 221, B6700ZBA, Luján, Argentina

    Leonardo Leggieri, Claudia Feijoó, Adonis Giorgi & Nicolás Ferreiro

  2. ANPCYT-Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Leonardo Leggieri

  3. CONICET-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adonis Giorgi & Nicolás Ferreiro

  4. Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Edifici H2O, Parc Cientıfic i Tecnologic de la Universitat de Girona, Carrer Emili Grahit 101, 17003, Girona, Spain

    Vicenç Acuña

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  1. Leonardo Leggieri
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  5. Vicenç Acuña
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Correspondence to Leonardo Leggieri.

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Handling editor: Luis Mauricio Bini

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Leggieri, L., Feijoó, C., Giorgi, A. et al. Seasonal weather effects on hydrology drive the metabolism of non-forest lowland streams. Hydrobiologia 716, 47–58 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1543-4

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