Dissolved Organic Matter and Biogeochemical Hotspots in a Northern Peatland Catchment
Abstract
Research on peatland catchments at the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA demonstrates the importance of dissolved organic matter (DOM) as a control on ecosystem processes. DOM is linked to biogeochemical cycles, especially in areas of the landscape where upland soils interface with organic soils of peatlands. At those interface areas, we investigate data from long-term (30+ years) and short-term studies for relationships between DOM (constituent concentrations and compositional measures) and phosphorus, mercury (total and methyl), and other trace metals. At the catchment scale, decades of stream chemistry monitoring show changes in the forms and concentrations of the constituents of DOM in response to forest management and other environmental change. Together, these data help to show how DOM from various source areas in the landscape is linked to hotspots of biogeochemical transformations and why these small areas of the landscape are important controls on solute yields at larger spatial scales.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.B13D0502S
- Keywords:
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- 0470 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Nutrients and nutrient cycling;
- 0497 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Wetlands;
- 1804 HYDROLOGY / Catchment;
- 1806 HYDROLOGY / Chemistry of fresh water