Snapshot study of open-channel stream respiration reveals systematic variation over the Yakima River basin
Abstract
River corridors are widely understood to host ecologically-important rates of aerobic respiration. While it remains unclear where in the river corridor these processes primarily occur, at least some of the respiration is likely to take place in the open channel. How these rates vary in space across a river basin is not well understood, and has never been measured systematically in the Yakima River basin, an economically and socially important river system in central Washington state. In late August and early September of 2021, we embarked on a high-intensity field campaign throughout the Yakima River basin. Multiple teams of field personnel visited some 50 sites spanning from the headwaters to the main stem of the Yakima River. At each site, water was sampled and analyzed for a number of chemical and microbial analytes. Additionally, a sample of river water was placed in a sealed, light-proof, 2L bottle containing a battery powered mixing device and a dissolved oxygen and temperature logger. This device was incubated at approximately river temperature for 2 hours, and the resultant time series of oxygen measurements from within the chamber was used to calculate a volumetric rate of oxygen consumption within the bottle, indicative of the open channel respiration occurring in the river at the time of sampling. While this is a somewhat quick and dirty measurement, it provides high quality data and allows for comparisons at least among the reaches sampled for this study. Initial data analysis indicates some systematic variation in open channel respiration across the Yakima River basin, with additional analyses and comparisons with both co-sampled contextual variables as well as mappable landscape-scale variables on the horizon.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.B25D1490K