Relating Nutrient Uptake And Respiration With Metabolically Active Transient Storage

Quantification of water transient storage zones is critical to understand stream nutrient uptake, but the common method to measure transient storage parameters (based on the use of conservative solutes as hydrologic tracers) does not allow distinguishing among different transient storage compartments that contribute in different proportions to nutrient uptake. We use an alternative experimental approach, the Resazurin (Raz) “smart” tracer, which in combination with a conservative tracer is expected to give the relation between metabolically active transient storage (MATS) versus whole transient storage. Raz is a weakly fluorescent phenoxazine dye that undergoes an irreversible reduction to highly fluorescent Resorufin (hereafter referred as Rru) in the presence of aerobic respiration. We conducted a combined injection of Raz, NaCl, NH4, and PO4 in WS01 at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. The injection was performed during low-baseflow conditions (Q<0.5 L/s) at a constant flow rate for 5 days. Changes in time in EC, Raz, Rru and nutrient concentrations were examined at 3 surface sampling sites and at 6 wells. Simultaneously to the injection we measured whole-reach metabolism and we performed an SF6 injection to measure the exchange coefficient of O2 between the atmosphere and stream water. The reach achieved plateau conditions in less than 15 hours after the injection began and recovered to pre-injection conditions 56 hours after the end of the injection. EC corrected by background conditions decreased with distance reflecting a dilution effect caused by the water gaining condition of the reach. Raz concentration increased and Rru concentration decreased along the reach reflecting the transformation of Raz to Rru with distance. The Rru to Raz ratio at surface water was correlated with instantaneous rates of net ecosystem production (NEP) measured over the whole reach. Percentage of surface water in wells during plateau ranged between 50% and 95%. Raz concentrations at wells were lower and Rru concentrations higher than those observed in adjacent surface water. The Rru to Raz ratio in the hyporheic zone was correlated to O2 consumption measured at wells. Nutrient concentrations were not available at the moment of writing this abstract but we hypothesize a correlation between nutrient uptake and Raz to Rru transformation in both surface water and hyporheic water.