River-floodplain hydrology of an embanked lowland Chalk river and initial response to embankment removal

Rivers have been channelized, deepened and constrained by embankments for centuries to increase agricultural productivity and improve flood defences. This has decreased the hydrological connectivity between rivers and their floodplains. We quantified the hydrological regime of a wet grassland meadow prior to and after the removal of river embankments. River and groundwater chemistry were also monitored to examine hydrological controls on floodplain nutrient status. Prior to restoration, the highest river flows (∼2 m3 s−1) were retained by the embankments. Under these flow conditions the usual hydraulic gradient from the floodplain to the river was reversed so that subsurface flows were directed towards the floodplain. Groundwater was depleted in dissolved oxygen (mean: 0.6 mg O2 L−1) and nitrate (mean: 0.5 mg NO3 −-N L−1) relative to river water (mean: 10.8 mg O2 L−1 and 6.2 mg NO3 −-N L−1, respectively). Removal of the embankments has reduced the channel capacity by an average of 60%. This has facilitated over-bank flow which is likely to favour conditions for improved flood storage and removal of river nutrients by floodplain sediments

Diffusive equilibrium in thin-films (DET) provides evidence of suppression of hyporheic exchange and large-scale nitrate transformation in a groundwater-fed river

The hyporheic zone of riverbed sediments has the potential to attenuate nitrate from upwelling, polluted groundwater. However, the coarse-scale (5 – 10 cm) measurement of nitrogen biogeochemistry in the hyporheic zone can often mask fine-scale (<1 cm) biogeochemical patterns, especially in near-surface sediments, leading to incomplete or inaccurate representation of the capacity of the hyporheic zone to transform upwelling NO3-. In this study, we utilised diffusive equilibrium in thin-films (DET) samplers to capture high resolution (cm-scale) vertical concentration profiles of NO3-, SO42-, Fe and Mn in the upper 15 cm of armoured and permeable riverbed sediments. The goal was to test whether nitrate attenuation was occurring in a sub-reach characterised by strong vertical (upwelling) water fluxes. The vertical concentration profiles obtained from DET samplers indicate considerable cm-scale variability in NO3- (4.4 ± 2.9 mg N/L), SO42- (9.9 ± 3.1 mg/L) and dissolved Fe (1.6 ± 2.1 mg/L) and Mn (0.2 ± 0.2 mg/L). However, the overall trend suggests the absence of substantial net chemical transformations and surface-subsurface water mixing in the shallow sediments of our sub-reach under baseflow conditions. The significance of this is that upwelling NO3--rich groundwater does not appear to be attenuated in the riverbed sediments at <15 cm depth as might occur where hyporheic exchange flows deliver organic matter to the sediments for metabolic processes. It would appear that the chemical patterns observed in the shallow sediments of our sub-reach are not controlled exclusively by redox processes and / or hyporheic exchange flows. Deeper-seated groundwater fluxes and hydro-stratigraphy may be additional important drivers of chemical patterns in the shallow sediments of our study sub-reach. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Reach-scale river metabolism across contrasting sub-catchment geologies: Effect of light and hydrology

We investigated the seasonal dynamics of in-stream metabolism at the reach scale (∼ 150 m) of headwaters across contrasting geological sub-catchments: clay, Greensand, and Chalk of the upper River Avon (UK). Benthic metabolic activity was quantified by aquatic eddy co-variance while water column activity was assessed by bottle incubations. Seasonal dynamics across reaches were specific for the three types of geologies. During the spring, all reaches were net autotrophic, with rates of up to 290 mmol C m-2 d-1 in the clay reach. During the remaining seasons, the clay and Greensand reaches were net heterotrophic, with peak oxygen consumption of 206 mmol m-2 d-1 during the autumn, while the Chalk reach was net heterotrophic only in winter. Overall, the water column alone still contributed to ∼ 25% of the annual respiration and primary production in all reaches. Net ecosystem metabolism (NEM) across seasons and reaches followed a general linear relationship with increasing stream light availability. Sub-catchment specific NEM proved to be linearly related to the local hydrological connectivity, quantified as the ratio between base flow and stream discharge, and expressed on a timescale of 9 d on average. This timescale apparently represents the average period of hydrological imprint for carbon turnover within the reaches. Combining a general light response and sub-catchment specific base flow ratio provided a robust functional relationship for predicting NEM at the reach scale. The novel approach proposed in this study can help facilitate spatial and temporal upscaling of riverine metabolism that may be applicable to a broader spectrum of catchments

Diagnosing problems of fine sediment delivery and transfer in a lowland catchment

This paper is a product of research conducted within the REFORM collaborative project funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement 282656

Evaluating the Potential Effectiveness of Compensatory Mitigation Strategies for Marine Bycatch

Conservationists are continually seeking new strategies to reverse population declines and safeguard against species extinctions. Here we evaluate the potential efficacy of a recently proposed approach to offset a major anthropogenic threat to many marine vertebrates: incidental bycatch in commercial fisheries operations. This new approach, compensatory mitigation for marine bycatch (CMMB), is conceived as a way to replace or reduce mandated restrictions on fishing activities with compensatory activities (e.g., removal of introduced predators from islands) funded by levies placed on fishers. While efforts are underway to bring CMMB into policy discussions, to date there has not been a detailed evaluation of CMMB's potential as a conservation tool, and in particular, a list of necessary and sufficient criteria that CMMB must meet to be an effective conservation strategy. Here we present a list of criteria to assess CMMB that are tied to critical ecological aspects of the species targeted for conservation, the range of possible mitigation activities, and the multi-species impact of fisheries bycatch. We conclude that, overall, CMMB has little potential for benefit and a substantial potential for harm if implemented to solve most fisheries bycatch problems. In particular, CMMB is likely to be effective only when applied to short-lived and highly-fecund species (not the characteristics of most bycatch-impacted species) and to fisheries that take few non-target species, and especially few non-seabird species (not the characteristics of most fisheries). Thus, CMMB appears to have limited application and should only be implemented after rigorous appraisal on a case-specific basis; otherwise it has the potential to accelerate declines of marine species currently threatened by fisheries bycatch

Towards a microbial process-based understanding of the resilience of peatland ecosystem service provisioning – a research agenda

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems with great significance as natural habitats and as major global carbon stores. They have been subject to widespread exploitation and degradation with resulting losses in characteristic biota and ecosystem functions such as climate regulation. More recently, large-scale programmes have been established to restore peatland ecosystems and the various services they provide to society. Despite significant progress in peatland science and restoration practice, we lack a process-based understanding of how soil microbiota influence peatland functioning and mediate the resilience and recovery of ecosystem services, to perturbations associated with land use and climate change. We argue that there is a need to: in the short-term, characterise peatland microbial communities across a range of spatial and temporal scales and develop an improved understanding of the links between peatland habitat, ecological functions and microbial processes; in the medium term, define what a successfully restored ’target’ peatland microbiome looks like for key carbon cycle related ecosystem services and develop microbial-based monitoring tools for assessing restoration needs; and in the longer term, to use this knowledge to influence restoration practices and assess progress on the trajectory towards ‘intact’ peatland status. Rapid advances in genetic characterisation of the structure and functions of microbial communities offer the potential for transformative progress in these areas, but the scale and speed of methodological and conceptual advances in studying ecosystem functions is a challenge for peatland scientists. Advances in this area require multidisciplinary collaborations between peatland scientists, data scientists and microbiologists and ultimately, collaboration with the modelling community. Developing a process-based understanding of the resilience and recovery of peatlands to perturbations, such as climate extremes, fires, and drainage, will be key to meeting climate targets and delivering ecosystem services cost effectively