Daily and seasonal variability of CO2 saturation and evasion in a free flowing and in a dammed river reach

Submitted: 16 January 2014
Accepted: 8 April 2014
Published: 8 May 2014
Abstract Views: 3110
PDF: 1041
Supplementary: 272
HTML: 949
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

The daily and seasonal evolution of O2 and CO2 saturation, water-atmosphere fluxes and budgets were measured in two fluvial reaches of the Mincio River (Italy). The northern reach is free flowing and is dominated by macrophytes while the southern reach is dammed, hypertrophic and phytoplankton dominated. We hypothesized short term regulation of gas saturation and fluxes by primary producers and the reversal of CO2 off-gassing in the southern reach. Results indicated that both reaches were always CO2 supersaturated. Higher CO2 evasion rates in the northern compared to the southern reach depended on reaeration coefficient, in turn depending on water velocity. In the northern reach dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) production was one order of magnitude higher than oxygen consumption, likely due to a combination of anoxic heterotrophic activity in the hyporheic zone and carbonate dissolution. The activity of macrophytes influenced CO2 saturation on short time scales. A net summer abatement of DIC occurred in the southern reach, probably due to fixation by phytoplankton, which attenuated supersaturation but not reversed CO2 efflux. This study demonstrates how in small rivers CO2 evasion can undergo rapid and significant changes due to eutrophication, altered hydrology and shift in primary producer communities.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Supporting Agencies

Mincio Regional Park, Mantua Province, Alex Laini PhD, University of Parma, Department of Life Sciences
Monica Pinardi, University of Parma
Department of Life Sciences
Marisa Rossetto, University of Parma Politecnico di Milano

Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma
Department of Electronics and Information, Politecnico di Milano

Pierluigi Viaroli, University of Parma
Department of Life Sciences
Marco Bartoli, University of Parma
Department of Life Sciences

How to Cite

Pinardi, Monica, Marisa Rossetto, Pierluigi Viaroli, and Marco Bartoli. 2014. “Daily and Seasonal Variability of CO2 Saturation and Evasion in a Free Flowing and in a Dammed River Reach”. Journal of Limnology 73 (3). https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2014.947.

List of Cited By :

Crossref logo