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Sources and seasonal patterns of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the hyporheic zone

  • ECOSYSTEM STUDIES OF THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER
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Abstract

The hyporheic zone is a region underneath streambeds that integrates surface and groundwater. Although its location is central to biogeochemical linkages between the riparian zone, dissolved nutrients, and benthic biota, the seasonal quality and likely sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the hyporheic zone are not well understood. To investigate DOM characteristics in the hyporheic zone, water from the surface and subsurface (at depths 20, 60, and 100 cm below the streambed) was sampled every 4 weeks from 2007 to 2008 in a third-order stream in southern Ontario. Using UV spectroscopy, measures of spectral slopes, aromaticity, and A 254/A 365 ratios (molecular weight) were obtained. Temporal changes in these measures were consistent with watershed processes such as shedding of leaf litter in the fall, and photochemical and biofilm influence in the spring and summer. The fluorescence index (a measure of relative DOM source) suggested that at the surface and in the downwelling zone, DOM microbial sources increased with depth in the sediment, regardless of the season. Excitation–emission matrices (EEMs) showed seasonally distinct, protein-like DOM components of bacterial origin that were stronger in the fall. Leachates from specific allochthonous DOM sources—leaf litter from Betula papyrifera (white birch) and Thuja occidentalis (white cedar)—and an autochthonous source, biofilm, were isolated and incubated with unfiltered surface water. EEMs from these leachates indicated that these sources could indeed help explain observed patterns of DOM in surface and subsurface waters. These results suggest that although DOM sources were relatively constant, biogeochemical processing within the hyporheic zone resulted a DOM pool that was temporally dynamic and altered the nature of organic matter transported downstream into lakes and rivers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank C. Febria, members of the Williams lab, and undergraduates for field and lab support; H. Goi for MATLAB coding; and D. Mathers at ANALEST for technical assistance. Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada

    Jessica C. Y. Wong & D. Dudley Williams

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  1. Jessica C. Y. Wong
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  2. D. Dudley Williams
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Correspondence to Jessica C. Y. Wong.

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Guest editors: M. Power, J. Marty, M. R. Twiss, J. Ridal, Y. de Lafontaine, J. M. Farrell / St. Lawrence River–Great Lakes Ecosystems: An Ecological Overview

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Wong, J.C.Y., Williams, D.D. Sources and seasonal patterns of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the hyporheic zone. Hydrobiologia 647, 99–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9950-2

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