Longitudinal trends in river functioning: Patterns of nutrient and carbon processing in three Australian rivers

River Research and Applications

Volumn 26, Issue 9, 2010, Pages 1129-1152

  Hadwen, Wade L ^a,b   Fellows, Christine S ^a,b   Westhorpe, Douglas P ^a,c   Rees, Gavin N ^a,d   Mitrovic, Simon M ^a,c   Taylor, Brett ^a,b   Baldwin, Darren S ^a,d   Silvester, Ewen ^a,e   Croome, Roger ^a,e  

^a EWATER COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE   (Australia)

^b GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^c Aquatic Sciences Unit   (Australia)

^d CSIRO   (Australia)

^e LA TROBE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Experimental bioassays; Extracellular enzymes; Food webs; Microbial respiration

Indexed keywords

BIOASSAY; CARBON; CATCHMENT; CONCENTRATION (COMPOSITION); DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION; ENZYME ACTIVITY; FOOD WEB; NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY; RESPIRATION; RIVER WATER; TREND ANALYSIS; WATER CHEMISTRY; WATER QUALITY;

AUSTRALIA;

ALGAE; BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS); METAZOA;

EID: 77954688137     PISSN: 15351459     EISSN: 15351467     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/rra.1321     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. American Public Health Association. 1998. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Water. American Public Health Association (APHA): Washington DC.
2. Biggs TW, Dunne T, Martinelli LA. 2004. Natural controls and human impacts on stream nutrient concentrations in a deforested region of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Biogeochemistry 68: 227-257.
3. Bond NR, Lake PS, Arthington AH. 2008. The impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems: an Australian perspective. Hydrobiologia 600: 3-16.
4. Boon PI, Bunn SE. 1994. Variations in the stable isotope composition of aquatic plants and their implications for food web analysis. Aquatic Botany 48: 99-108.
5. Brito EF, Moulton TP, De Souza ML, Bunn SE. 2006. Stable isotope analysis indicates microalgae as the predominant food source of fauna in a coastal forest stream, south-east Brazil. Austral Ecology 31: 623-633.
6. Bunn SE, Arthington AH. 2002. Basic principles and ecological consequences of altered flow regimes for aquatic biodiversity. Environmental Management 30: 492-507.
7. Bunn SE, Boon PI. 1993. What sources of organic carbon drive food webs in billabongs? A study based on stable isotope analysis. Oecologia 96: 85-94.
8. Bunn SE, Davies PM, Winning MA. 2003. Sources of organic carbon supporting the food web of an arid zone floodplain river. Freshwater Biology 48: 619-635.
9. Bunn SE, Longeran NR, Kempster MA. 1995. Effects of acid washing on stable isotope ratios of C and N in penaeid shrimp and seagrass: implications for food-web studies using multiple stable isotopes. Limnology and Oceanography 40: 622-625.
10. Clark MJ, Cresser MS, Smart R, Chapman PJ, Edwards AC. 2004. The influence of catchment characteristics on the seasonality of carbon and nitrogen species concentrations in upland rivers of Northern Scotland. Biogeochemistry 68: 1-19.
11. Clarke KR, Warwick RM. 2001. Change in Marine Communities: An Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. Primer-E Ltd: Plymouth, UK.
12. Connolly RM, Hindell JS, Gorman D. 2005. Seagrass and epiphytic algae support nutrition of a fisheries species, Sillago schomburgkii, in adjacent intertidal habitats. Marine Ecology Progress Series 286: 69-76.
13. Davis JR, Koop K. 2006. Eutrophication in Australian rivers, reservoirs and estuaries-a southern hemisphere perspective on the science and its implications. Hydrobiologia 559: 23-76.
14. Department of Natural Resources and Environment. 1991. Protecting rivers and streams of high conservation value. Available at: [Accessed on 1 July 2008].
15. De Rose R, Barrett D, Marks A, Caitcheon G, Chen Y, Simon D, Lymburner L, Douglas G, Palmer M. 2005. Linking Sediment Dynamics, Riparian Vegetation, Erosion and Sediment Transport in the Ovens River Basin. CSIRO Land and Water Client Report, Canberra, Australia.
16. Dodds WK, Oakes RM. 2006. Controls on nutrients across a prairie stream watershed: land use and riparian cover effects. Environmental Management 37: 634-646.
17. Douglas MM, Bunn SE, Davies PM. 2005. River and wetland food webs in Australia's wet-dry tropics: general principles and implications for management. Marine and Freshwater Research 56: 329-342.
18. Drewry JJ, Newham LTH, Greene RSB, Jakeman AJ, Croke BFW. 2006. A review of nitrogen and phosphorous export to waterways: context for catchment modelling. Marine and Freshwater Research 57: 757-774.
19. Findlay S, Sinsabaugh RL, Fischer DT, Franchini P. 1998. Sources of dissolved organic carbon supporting planktonic bacterial production in the tidal freshwater Hudson River. Ecosystems 1: 227-239.
20. France RL. 1995. Stable isotopic survey of the role of macrophytes in the carbon flow of aquatic foodwebs. Vegetatio 124: 67-72.
21. Gawne B, Merrick C, Williams DG, Rees G, Oliver R, Bowen PM, Treadwell S, Beattie G, Ellis I, Frankenberg J, Lorenz Z. 2007. Patterns of primary and heterotrophic productivity in an arid lowland river. River Research and Applications 23: 1070-1087.
22. 15N-enriched sewage effluent. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 71: 347-358.
23. Hadwen WL, Bunn SE. 2004. Tourists increase the contribution of autochthonous carbon to littoral zone food webs in oligotrophic dune lakes. Marine and Freshwater Research 55: 701-708.
24. 15N-tracer additions in the littoral zone of an oligotrophic dune lake. Limnology and Oceanography 50: 1096-1105.
25. Hadwen WL, Russell GL, Arthington AH. 2007. Gut content- and stable isotope-derived diets of four commercially and recreationally important fish species in two intermittently open estuaries. Marine and Freshwater Research 58: 363-375.
26. 13PC for interpretation of food web structure and function in streams of southeast Queensland. Marine and Freshwater Research (under review).
27. Hamilton SK, Lewis WMJ, Sippel SJ. 1992. Energy sources for aquatic animals in the Orinoco River floodplain: evidence from stable isotopes. Oecologia 89: 324-330.
28. Harris GP. 2001. Biogeochemistry of nitrogen and phosphorus in Australian catchments, rivers and estuaries: effects of land use and flow regulation and comparisons with global patterns. Marine and Freshwater Research 52: 139-149.
29. ISO. 1994. Water Quality-Measurement of Biochemical Parameters-Spectrophotometric Determination of the Chlorophyll-a Concentration. International Organisation for Standardization: Geneva, Switzerland.
30. Jarvie HP, Haygarth PM, Neal C, Butler P, Smith B, Naden PS, Joynes A, Neal M, Wickham H, Armstrong L, Harman S, Palmer-Felgate EJ. 2008. Stream water chemistry and quality along an upland-lowland rural land-use continuum, south west England. Journal of Hydrology 350: 215-231.
31. Junk WJ, Bayley PB, Sparks RE. 1989. The flood pulse concept in river-floodplain systems. In Proceedings of the International Large River Symposium, Vol. 106, Dodge DP (ed.). Canadian Special Publication in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 106: 110-127.
32. Kelly VJ. 2001. Influence of reservoirs on solute transport: a regional-scale approach. Hydrological Processes 15: 1227-1249.
33. McCutchan JHJ, Lewis WMJ, Kendall C, McGrath CC. 2003. Variation in trophic shift for stable isotope ratios of cabon, nitrogen and sulfur. Oikos 102: 378-390.
34. McTammany ME, Webster JR, Benfield EF, Neatrour MA. 2003. Longitudinal patterns of metabolism in a southern Appalachian river. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 22: 359-370.
35. Mulholland PJ. 2003. Large-scale patterns in dissolved organic carbon concentration, flux, and sources. In Aquatic Ecosystems: Interactivity of Dissolved Organic Matter, Findlay SEG, Sinsabaugh RL (eds). Academic Press: San Diego, California; 139-159.
36. Neal C, Jarvie HP, Love A, Neal M, Wickham H, Harman S. 2008. Water quality along a river continuum subject to point and diffuse sources. Journal of Hydrology 350: 154-165.
37. Peterson BJ, Fry B. 1987. Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 18: 293-320.
38. Phillips DL, Gregg JW. 2003. Source partitioning using stable isotopes: coping with too many sources. Oecologia 136: 261-269.
39. Rees GN, Bowen PM, Watson GO. 2005. Variability in benthic respiration in three southeastern Australian lowland rivers. River Research and Applications 21: 1147-1156.
40. Robertson AI, Bunn SE, Boon PI, Walker KF. 1999. Sources, sinks and transformations of organic carbon in Australian floodplain rivers. Marine and Freshwater Research 50: 813-829.
41. Smith SV, Swaney DP, Buddemeier RW, Scarsbrook MR, Weatherhead MA, Humborg C, Eriksson H, Hannerz F. 2005. River nutrient loads and catchment size. Biogeochemistry 75: 83-107.
42. Thorp JH, Delong MD. 1994. The riverine productivity model: an heuristic view of carbon sources and organic processing in large river ecosystems. Oikos 70: 305-308.
43. Thorp JH, Delong MD. 2002. Dominance of autochthonous autotrophic carbon in food webs of heterotrophic rivers. Oikos 96: 543-550.
44. Vannote RL, Minshall GW, Cummins KW, Sedell JR, Cushing CE. 1980. The river continuum concept. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 37: 130-137.
45. Ward AK, Johnson MD. 1996. Heterotrophic microorganisms. In Methods in Stream Ecology, Hauer FR, Lamberti GA (eds). Academic Press: San Diego, California; 233-268.
46. Wetzel RG, Likens GE. 2000. Organic Matter. In Limnological Analysis, 3rd edn, Wetzel RG, Likens GE (eds). Springer-Verlag: New York; 137-146.
47. Williams WD. 1988. Limnological imbalances: an antipodean viewpoint. Freshwater Biology 20: 407-420.
48. Williams MR, Melack JM. 1997. Solute export from forested and partially deforested catchments in the central Amazon. Biogeochemistry 38: 67-102.