Variation in Quantity, Source and Bioreactivity of Dissolved Organic Matter in Streams Draining Watersheds along a Gradient of Agricultural Land Use

Abstract:

In order to address the effects of agricultural land use on stream water dissolved organic matter (DOM), we sampled a regional group of second to third order streams draining watersheds along a gradient of percentage agricultural lands in northwestern Alabama, USA. Samples were collected under baseflow conditions, five different times over the year 2014. We analyzed dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations, DOM optical properties (i.e. ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectrophotometry), and DOM bioreactivity over the course of 22 d incubation. We found that air temperature and antecedent precipitation intensity (API) were two major factors positively controlling DOC concentrations. High DOC concentrations were associated with high fluorescence index values, low percent contributions from terrestrially derived humic-like DOM fluorescence component (C₁), and high percent contributions from microbially derived humic-like DOM fluorescence component (C₃). We suggest that elevated microbial DOM production under high temperature and API was the primary reason for DOC enrichment in stream water. Percentage agricultural land was the secondary predictor of DOM characteristics. The percentages of forest land use within watersheds positively correlated with percent protein-like DOM fluorescence component (C₄). DOC concentrations and relative abundance of humic-like DOM fluorescence components (C₁, C₂ and C₃) were higher in agricultural streams than in forested streams, which could be attributed to flow path differences between agricultural and forested watersheds. Larger amount and percentage of bioreactive DOC was observed in agricultural streams, which might decrease oxygen level and impact fluvial ecosystem in downstream regions during degradation.