Wetlands provide important ecosystem services, including improving surface water quality through nutrient removal. Louisiana has experienced ~ 4800 km2 of coastal wetland loss between 1932 and 2016 due to high relative sea level rise and reduced sediment from the Mississippi River due to levees. The 2023 LA Coastal Master Plan aims to restore Louisiana’s degraded coastline through restoration projects, including sediment diversions or river reconnection. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project will reconnect the river sediment-laden water with the coastal wetlands of Barataria Basin to nourish degrading marshes. However, the diversion will also deliver substantial nitrate (NO3−) to the basin, potentially negatively impacting water quality. We quantified NO3− reduction rates at these high (2 mg/L) and low (0.5 mg/L) water column concentrations for marsh and submerged estuarine sediments using intact cores and a laboratory incubation. An additional treatment where 2 cm of mineral river sediment was placed over the organic marsh soil as a future, post-diversion scenario to simulate sediment deposition on the marsh once the river is reconnected. We hypothesized that NO3− reduction rates would decrease once mineral sediment is deposited on the organic marsh soil. For an aerobic water column, nitrate reduction rates for the vegetated marsh, post-diversion marsh, submerged eroded marsh, and estuarine sediment zones were 71.1 ± 2.7, 27.8 ± 4.5, 19.7 ± 1.2, and 13.0 ± 0.75 mg N m−2 d−1, respectively. Thus, the post-diversion marsh NO3− reduction rate decreased by ~ 60% compared to the current vegetated marsh. However, we predict the newly deposited sediment will increase NO3− removal by 1.17 × in the eroded marsh and estuarine sediment zones, which are always flooded and will receive river sediment. The marsh is only flooded 31–48% of the time, lessening the impact of the reduction. These findings can improve predictive water quality models used to assess nutrient loading and fate more accurately across the basin under the river reconnection scenario and inform other deltaic regions as freshwater flows are restored to coastal systems globally.

Abstract The signaling compound nitric oxide (NO) might play an important, yet unquantified role in mediating soil biogeochemical Carbon and Nitrogen cycles. This study quantified the effects of different soil-typical exogenous NO concentrations on the microbial community, on fertilizer N turnover, and on C and N trace gas fluxes of agricultural soil. For this, we repeatedly established soil NO concentrations of either 0, 200, 400, and ppbv˗NO in soil mesocosms for in total of 12 days, followed by high-resolution automated measurements of CO2, NO, CH4, and N2O fluxes, molecular analysis of microbial community composition and 15N-isotope-tracing based assessment of fertilizer N turnover. We found no effects of different NO levels on microbial communities and CO2, CH4, and NO fluxes. However, at 200 ppbv concentration, exogenous NO promoted microbial assimilation of fertilizer N. In contrast, at 400 ppbv˗NO concentration, microbial biomass N was reduced, and microbial uptake of fertilizer N was inhibited, accompanied by a 33% reduction of N2O emissions. This suggested a promoting effect of 200 ppbv˗NO on the physiology of cells involved in heterotrophic microbial N turnover, probably reinforcing the role of cell-endogenous NO. In contrast, the higher exogenous NO concentrations of 400 ppbv seemed to inhibit heterotrophic microbial inorganic N assimilation, with however no increase in N2O emissions due to detoxification mechanisms. In conclusion, our pioneering study provides first insights into impacts of exogenous NO on soil C and N biogeochemistry in natural soil systems and reveals a NO concentration-dependent regulation of microbial N retention.

In seasonally snow-covered ecosystems such as northern hardwood forests of the northeastern U.S., spring snowmelt is a critical transition period for plant and microbial communities, as well as for the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen (N). However, it remains unknown how shifting snowmelt dynamics influence soil and plant processing and uptake of N in these forests, which are experiencing reductions in N availability relative to demand, a process known as oligotrophication. We characterized the role of changing spring snowmelt timing on root production and N pools and fluxes by manipulating snowmelt timing along a climate elevation gradient at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. We manually halved or doubled snow water equivalent (SWE) in experimental plots in March of 2022 and 2023 to accelerate or delay by an average of one week, respectively, the onset of spring snowmelt. Earlier snowmelt led to reduced snowpack depth and duration, as well as deeper, more sustained soil frost during the snowmelt period in 2022, but soil freezing did not occur in 2023. Soil nitrate and net nitrification rates were significantly lower with shallower snowpack and earlier snowmelt compared to plots with deeper snow and later snowmelt. Shallower snowpack and early snowmelt were also associated with decreased foliar N concentrations and δ15N values, indications that earlier snowmelt contributes to lower N availability relative to plant N uptake and demand. Our study provides evidence that early snowmelt resulting from shallower snowpack contributes to N oligotrophication, primarily through impacts on soil nitrate supply and uptake of N by trees.

Flocculation of riverine dissolved organic matter (DOM) in estuaries is crucial for transforming and removing terrestrial carbon inputs across the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum. We measured variations in chromophoric DOM (CDOM) absorption and fluorescence of riverine DOM through mixing experiments conducted across various seasons and environments, identifying patterns in salt-induced flocculation. Our observations show a systematic reduction in CDOM absorption in the 250–450 nm range at salinity 2, with a sharper decrease at higher wavelengths. Flocculation led to decreased relative fluorescence intensity below emission wavelength of 360 nm and an increased intensity at higher emission wavelengths across the excitation spectrum measured (250–450 nm). We introduce a new metric, red shift ratio, a fluorescence-based metric calculated as the ratio of emission intensity at 300–350 nm to that at 360–500 nm, at excitation wavelengths between 250 and 300 nm, for detecting flocculation-induced changes in CDOM across estuarine systems. The observed sensitivity of CDOM to flocculation in low salinities challenges its use as a conservative tracer in coastal gradients, suggesting that recalibrations are required for remote sensing algorithms and carbon flux estimations across land-sea continuum, particularly in systems with similar characteristics.

Soils are the largest terrestrial carbon sink on Earth, yet substantial uncertainty in the size and stability of this pool remains. Much of this uncertainty stems from the characterization of bulk density, which is the mass of a soil sample divided by its volume, a key property in the calculation of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. We used data from nearly 2900 plots in the United States (U.S.) Nationwide Forest Inventory to quantify SOC stocks in forests with three common methods of calculating soil bulk density. Mean SOC stocks calculated with these methods varied by up to 13 Mg ha−1, a difference equivalent to more than 70 percent of the 2022 economy-wide carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. when scaled across all forest area. These differences were primarily driven by inconsistent treatment of coarse materials (i.e. rocks and roots) in soil bulk density calculations, which led to an overestimation of SOC content by 32 percent of the mean SOC stock across all U.S. forests. The largest discrepancies were found in soils with high coarse fragment content, which are more common in ecologically sensitive ecosystems like alpine zones and drylands, and in commercially important softwood forest types. Quantifying the size and stability of SOC in the land sector is essential to understanding how this carbon pool may serve as a nature-based solution to climate change. Consistent and transparent methods are necessary when estimating and reporting SOC content and when comparing SOC dynamics across ecological gradients, with disturbance, and over time.

the phrase ''CH 4 and'' in the below segment:The spatial variability of emissions in a Swedish (CH 4 ) stream and two German streams (CH 4 and CO 2 ) was more closely related to variable concentrations rather than variable k (Halbedel & Koschorreck

Soil microbial communities play a pivotal role in controlling soil carbon cycling and its climate feedback. Accurately predicting microbial respiration in soils has been challenged by the intricate resource heterogeneity of soil systems. This makes it difficult to formulate mathematical expressions for carbon fluxes at the soil bulk scale which are fundamental for soil carbon models. Recent advances in characterizing and modeling soil heterogeneity are promising. Yet they have been independent of soil structure characterizations, hence increasing the number of empirical parameters needed to model microbial processes. Soil structure, intended as the aggregate and pore size distributions, is, in fact, a key contributor to soil organization and heterogeneity and is related to the presence of microsites and associated environmental conditions in which microbial communities are active. In this study, we present a theoretical framework that accounts for the effects of microsites heterogeneity on microbial activity by explicitly linking heterogeneity to the distribution of aggregate sizes and their resources. From the soil aggregate size distribution, we derive a mathematical expression for heterotrophic respiration that accounts for soil biogeochemical heterogeneity through measurable biophysical parameters. The expression readily illustrates how various soil heterogeneity scenarios impact respiration rates. In particular, we compare heterogeneous with homogeneous scenarios for the same total carbon substrate and microbial biomass and identify the conditions under which respiration in heterogeneous soils (soils having non-uniform distribution of carbon substrate and microbial biomass carbon across different aggregate size classes) differs from homogeneous soils (soils having uniform distribution of carbon substrate and microbial biomass carbon across different aggregate size classes). The proposed framework may allow a simplified representation of dynamic microbial processes in soil carbon models across different land uses and land covers, key factors affecting soil structure.

As with most aquatic ecosystems, reservoirs play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle and emit greenhouse gases (GHG) as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). However, GHG emissions from reservoirs are poorly quantified, especially in temperate systems, resulting in high uncertainty. We compared reservoir C emission estimates and uncertainty of diffusive, ebullitive, and degassing pathways in six hydropower reservoirs in the southeastern United States among four data sources: two field-based surveys and two models (including the GHG Reservoir “G-res” Tool). We found that CH4 diffusion was most similar across data sources (modeled minus observed, bias = − 21 g CO2-eq m−2 y−1) and had low relative uncertainty (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.98). On the other hand, CO2 diffusion was least consistent across data sources (bias = − 518 g CO2-eq m−2 y−1). Both field surveys indicated strong negative CO2 diffusion (i.e., CO2 uptake) at all reservoirs, while G-res estimated positive CO2 diffusion. By extension, total C emissions showed similar discrepancies, leading to high uncertainty in upscaling and interpreting reservoir source-sink dynamics. Finally, CH4 ebullition had the highest relative uncertainty (CV = 2.77) due to high variability across sites. We discuss limitations of field surveys and these models, including temperature-based annualization methods, varying definitions of ebullition zones, low sampling resolution, and lack of dynamism. Future field efforts focused on capturing variability in CO2 diffusion and CH4 ebullition will be especially valuable in reducing uncertainty and improving models to advance our understanding reservoir GHG emissions.

Climate warming is causing more extreme weather conditions, with both larger and more intense precipitation events as well as extended periods of drought in many regions of the world. The consequence is an alteration of the hydrological regime of streams and rivers, with an increase in the probability of extreme hydrological conditions. Mediterranean-climate regions usually experience extreme hydrological events on a seasonal basis and thus, freshwater Mediterranean ecosystems can be used as natural laboratories for better understanding how climate warming will impact ecosystem structure and functioning elsewhere. In this paper, we revisited and contextualized historical and new datasets collected at Fuirosos, a well-studied Mediterranean intermittent stream naturally experiencing extreme hydrological events, to illustrate how the seasonal alternation of floods and droughts influence hydrology, microbial assemblages, water chemistry, and the potential for biogeochemical processing. Moreover, we revised some of the most influential conceptual and quantitative frameworks in river ecology to assess to what extent they incorporate the occurrence of extreme hydrological events. Based on this exercise, we identified knowledge gaps and challenges to guide future research on freshwater ecosystems under intensification of the hydrological cycle. Ultimately, we aimed to share the lessons learned from ecosystems naturally experiencing extreme hydrological events, which can help to better understand warming-induced impacts on hydrological transport and cycling of matter in fluvial ecosystems.