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INTERREGIONAL COMPARISONS OF SEDIMENT MICROBIAL RESPIRATION IN STREAMS
Citation:
Hill, B H., R. K. Hall, P. Husby, A. T. Herlihy, AND M. Dunne. INTERREGIONAL COMPARISONS OF SEDIMENT MICROBIAL RESPIRATION IN STREAMS. Presented at International Congress on Ecosystem Health: Managing for Ecosystem Health, Sacramento, CA, August 15-20, 1999.
Description:
The rate of microbial respiration on fine-grained stream sediments was measured at 369 first to fourth-order streams in the Central Appalachians, Colorado's Southern Rockies, and California's Central Valley in 1994 and 1995. Study streams were randomly selected from the USEPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). Respiration rate ranged from 0 to 0.621 g 02 g-1 ash free dry mass (AFDM) h-1 in Central Appalachian streams, 0-0.254 g 02g-1 AFDM h-1 in southern Rockies streams, and 0-0.436 g 02 g-1 AFDM h-1 in Central Valley streams. Respiration was significantly lower in Southern Rockies streams and in cold water streams of the Central Appalachians and southern Rockies. Respiration was significantly correlated with stream temperature and chemistry (DOC, total N, total P, K, Cl, and alkalinity), but was not significantly different between years. The uniformity of respiration estimates among the three study regions, and the lack of annual differences suggests that sediment microbial respiration may be collected at any number of scales above the site-level for reliable prediction of respiration patterns at larger spatial scales.