Hydrological connectivity as indicated by transport of diatoms through the riparian-stream system
Auteurs
N. Martínez-Carreras, C. E. Wetzel, J. Frentress, L. Ector, J. J. McDonnell, L. Hoffmann, and L. Pfister
Référence
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 2391-2434, 2015
Description
Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) are one of the most common and diverse algal groups (ca. 200 000 species, ≈10–200 μm, unicellular, eukaryotic). Here we investigate the potential of terrestrial and aerophytic diatoms (i.e. diatoms nearly exclusively occurring outside water bodies, on wet, moist or temporarily dry places) to infer surface hydrological connectivity between hillslope–riparian–stream (HRS) landscape units during storm runoff events. We present data from the Weierbach catchment (0.45 km2, NW Luxembourg) that quantifies the relative abundance of terrestrial and aerophytic diatom species on hillslopes and in riparian zones (i.e. surface soils, litter, bryophytes and vegetation) and within streams (i.e. stream water, epilithon and epipelon). We tested the hypothesis that different diatom species assemblages inhabit specific moisture domains of the catchment (i.e. HRS units) and, consequently, the presence of certain species assemblages in the stream during runoff events offers the potential for recording if there was or not hydrological connectivity between these domains. We found that a higher percentage of terrestrial and aerophytic diatom species was present in samples collected from the riparian and hillslope zones than inside the stream. However, diatoms were absent on hillslopes covered by dry litter, limiting their use to infer hillslope–riparian zone connectivity in some parts of the catchment. Our results also showed that terrestrial and aerophytic diatom abundance in the stream increased systematically during all sampled events (n = 11, 2010–2011) in response to incident precipitation and increasing discharge. This transport of terrestrial and aerophytic diatoms during events suggested a rapid connectivity between the soil surface and the stream. Diatom transport data was compared to two-component hydrograph separation, and end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) using stream water chemistry and stable isotope data. This research suggests that diatoms were likely sourced exclusively from the riparian zone, since it was not only the largest terrestrial and aerophytic diatom reservoir, but also riparian zone water was a major streamflow source during rainfall events under both wet and dry antecedent condition.
Lien
doi:10.5194/hessd-12-2391-2015
