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- Garcia-Martin, E. Elena, et al.
(författare)
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Sources, Composition, and Export of Particulate Organic Matter Across British Estuaries
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-8953 .- 2169-8961. ; 128:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Estuaries receive and process a large amount of particulate organic carbon (POC) prior to its export into coastal waters. Studying the origin of this POC is key to understanding the fate of POC and the role of estuaries in the global carbon cycle. Here, we evaluated the concentrations of POC, as well as particulate organic nitrogen (PON), and used stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to assess their sources across 13 contrasting British estuaries during five different sampling campaigns over 1 year. We found a high variability in POC and PON concentrations across the salinity gradient, reflecting inputs, and losses of organic material within the estuaries. Catchment land cover appeared to influence the contribution of POC to the total organic carbon flux from the estuary to coastal waters, with POC contributions >36% in estuaries draining catchments with a high percentage of urban/suburban land, and <11% in estuaries draining catchments with a high peatland cover. There was no seasonal pattern in the isotopic composition of POC and PON, suggesting similar sources for each estuary over time. Carbon isotopic ratios were depleted (-26.7 +/- 0.42 parts per thousand, average +/- sd) at the lowest salinity waters, indicating mainly terrigenous POC (TPOC). Applying a two-source mixing model, we observed high variability in the contribution of TPOC at the highest salinity waters between estuaries, with a median value of 57%. Our results indicate a large transport of terrigenous organic carbon into coastal waters, where it may be buried, remineralized, or transported offshore. Plain Language Summary Estuaries transport and process a large amount terrigenous particulate organic matter (i.e., carbon and nitrogen) prior to its export to coastal waters. In order to understand the fate of organic carbon and the role of estuaries in the global carbon cycle it is essential to improve our knowledge on its composition, origin, and amount of carbon transported. We quantified the elemental concentrations and stable isotopes composition of carbon and nitrogen to quantify the amount of terrigenous particulate organic matter transported by 13 British estuaries, which drain catchments of diverse land cover under different hydrological conditions. We found a great variability in particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen concentrations across the salinity gradient, implying inputs, and losses of material within the estuaries. Each estuary had similar sources of particulate material throughout the year. In most of the estuaries, the POC had a terrigenous origin at the lowest salinity waters. The terrigenous organic carbon contribution decreased toward coastal waters with an average contribution of 57% at the highest salinity waters, indicating a large transport of terrigenous organic carbon into coastal waters.
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- Tye, Andrew M., et al.
(författare)
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Dissolved inorganic carbon export from rivers of Great Britain : Spatial distribution and potential catchment-scale controls
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Hydrology. - : Elsevier. - 0022-1694 .- 1879-2707. ; 615
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes from the land to ocean have been quantified for many rivers globally. However, CO2 fluxes to the atmosphere from inland waters are quantitatively significant components of the global carbon cycle that are currently poorly constrained. Understanding, the relative contributions of natural and human-impacted processes on the DIC cycle within catchments may provide a basis for developing improved management strategies to mitigate free CO2 concentrations in rivers and subsequent evasion to the atmosphere. Here, a large, internally consistent dataset collected from 41 catchments across Great Britain (GB), accounting for ∼36% of land area (∼83,997 km2) and representative of national land cover, was used to investigate catchment controls on riverine dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), bicarbonate (HCO3−) and free CO2 concentrations, fluxes to the coastal sea and annual yields per unit area of catchment. Estimated DIC flux to sea for the survey catchments was 647 kt DIC yr−1 which represented 69% of the total dissolved carbon flux from these catchments. Generally, those catchments with large proportions of carbonate and sedimentary sandstone were found to deliver greater DIC and HCO3− to the ocean. The calculated mean free CO2 yield for survey catchments (i.e. potential CO2 emission to the atmosphere) was 0.56 t C km−2 yr−1. Regression models demonstrated that whilst river DIC (R2 = 0.77) and HCO3− (R2 = 0.77) concentrations are largely explained by the geology of the landmass, along with a negative correlation to annual precipitation, free CO2 concentrations were strongly linked to catchment macronutrient status. Overall, DIC dominates dissolved C inputs to coastal waters, meaning that estuarine carbon dynamics are sensitive to underlying geology and therefore are likely to be reasonably constant. In contrast, potential losses of carbon to the atmosphere via dissolved CO2, which likely constitute a significant fraction of net terrestrial ecosystem production and hence the national carbon budget, may be amenable to greater direct management via altering patterns of land use.
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- Brownlie, Will J., et al.
(författare)
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Opportunities to recycle phosphorus-rich organic materials
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: Our Phosphorus Future. - Edinburgh : UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. ; , s. 219-270
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recycling phosphorus-rich organic wastes and manures is critical for phosphorus sustainability and a transition to a more circular economy for phosphorus. Beyond agronomic benefits, the win-wins are numerous, with benefits to society, environment, economy, and business growth. However, to significantly increase phosphorus recycling, education, awareness-raising, investment in technology and infrastructure, and policy support are urgently needed.
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- Brownlie, Will, et al.
(författare)
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Phosphorus reserves, resources and uses
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: Our Phosphorus Future. - : UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. ; , s. 20-71
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Five countries hold 85% of the planet’s phosphate rock reserves. High dependency on imported phosphate rock and/or mineral phosphorus fertiliser can contribute to national food system vulnerability. Geological depletion of phosphate rock is not an immediate threat, however geopolitical, institutional, economic, and managerial factors may impact phosphorus access. Improving the efficient use of phosphorus in agriculture and shifting reliance away from mined phosphorus sources by increasing phosphorus recycling may offer the greatest protection against potential phosphorus supply risks.
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- Cordell, Dana, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Transforming food systems: implications for phosphorus
- 2022
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Ingår i: Our Phosphorus Future. - Edinburgh : UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. - 9781906698799 ; , s. 73-111
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Managing phosphorus underpins the sustainability of the food system and is vital in achieving future food security. Strategies to deliver phosphorus sustainability include a transition to circular phosphorus value chains, land-use planning approaches that support greater phosphorus use efficiency and a reduction in consumption of animal products. Affordable access to sustainable phosphorus sources is imperative to ensure food provision for all and to protect the livelihoods of smallholder and marginal farmers.
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- Hessen, Dag O., et al.
(författare)
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Lake ecosystem tipping points and climate feedbacks
- 2024
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Ingår i: Earth System Dynamics. - 2190-4979 .- 2190-4987. ; 15:3, s. 653-669
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lakes and ponds experience anthropogenically forced changes that may be non-linear and sometimes initiate ecosystem feedbacks leading to tipping points beyond which impacts become hard to reverse. In many cases climate change is a key driver, sometimes in concert with other stressors. Lakes are also important players in the global climate by ventilating a large share of terrestrial carbon (C) back to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases and will likely provide substantial feedbacks to climate change. In this paper we address various major changes in lake ecosystems and discuss if tipping points can be identified, predicted, or prevented, as well as the drivers and feedbacks associated with climate change. We focus on potential large-scale effects with regional or widespread impacts, such as eutrophication-driven anoxia and internal phosphorus (P) loading, increased loading of organic matter from terrestrial to lake ecosystems (lake “browning”), lake formation or disappearance in response to cryosphere shifts or changes in precipitation to evaporation ratios, switching from nitrogen to phosphorus limitation, salinization, and the spread of invasive species where threshold-type shifts occur. We identify systems and drivers that could lead to self-sustaining feedbacks, abrupt changes, and some degree of resilience, as opposed to binary states not subject to self-propelling changes or resilience. Changes driven by warming, browning, and eutrophication can cause increased lake stratification, heterotrophy (browning), and phytoplankton or macrophyte mass (eutrophication), which separately or collectively drive benthic oxygen depletion and internal phosphorus loading and in turn increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several of these processes can feature potential tipping point thresholds, which further warming will likely make easier to surpass. We argue that the full importance of the vulnerability of lakes to climate and other anthropogenic impacts, as well as their feedback to climate, is not yet fully acknowledged, so there is a need both for science and communication in this regard.
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- Metson, Geneviève S., 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Towards net-zero phosphorus cities
- 2022
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Ingår i: npj Urban Sustainability. - : Springer Nature. - 2661-8001. ; 2:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cities are central to improving natural resource management globally. Instead of reinventing the wheel for each interlinked sustainability priority, we suggest synergising with, and learning from existing net-zero carbon initiatives to explicitly tackle another vital element: phosphorus. To achieve net-zero phosphorus actors must work together to (1) minimise loss flows out of the city, (2) maximise recycling flows from the city to agricultural lands, and (3) minimise the need for phosphorus in food production.
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- Spears, Bryan M., et al.
(författare)
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Geo-Engineering in Lakes-A Call for Consensus
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 47:9, s. 3953-3954
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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11. |
- Williamson, Jennifer L., et al.
(författare)
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Landscape controls on riverine export of dissolved organic carbon from Great Britain
- 2021
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Ingår i: Biogeochemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0168-2563 .- 1573-515X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export from land to ocean via rivers is a significant term in the global C cycle, and has been modified in many areas by human activity. DOC exports from large global rivers are fairly well quantified, but those from smaller river systems, including those draining oceanic regions, are generally under-represented in global syntheses. Given that these regions typically have high runoff and high peat cover, they may exert a disproportionate influence on the global land–ocean DOC export. Here we describe a comprehensive new assessment of the annual riverine DOC export to estuaries across the island of Great Britain (GB), which spans the latitude range 50–60° N with strong spatial gradients of topography, soils, rainfall, land use and population density. DOC yields (export per unit area) were positively related to and best predicted by rainfall, peat extent and forest cover, but relatively insensitive to population density or agricultural development. Based on an empirical relationship with land use and rainfall we estimate that the DOC export from the GB land area to the freshwater-seawater interface was 1.15 Tg C year−1 in 2017. The average yield for GB rivers is 5.04 g C m−2 year−1, higher than most of the world’s major rivers, including those of the humid tropics and Arctic, supporting the conclusion that under-representation of smaller river systems draining peat-rich areas could lead to under-estimation of the global land–ocean DOC export. The main anthropogenic factor influencing the spatial distribution of GB DOC exports appears to be upland conifer plantation forestry, which is estimated to have raised the overall DOC export by 0.168 Tg C year−1. This is equivalent to 15% of the estimated current rate of net CO2 uptake by British forests. With the UK and many other countries seeking to expand plantation forest cover for climate change mitigation, this ‘leak in the ecosystem’ should be incorporated in future assessments of the CO2 sequestration potential of forest planting strategies.
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