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Reactivity of dissolved organic matter in response to acid deposition

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Abstract

Fluvial export of organic matter from the terrestrial catchment to the aquatic system is a large and increasing carbon flux. The successful reduction in sulfuric acid deposition since the 1980s has been shown to enhance the mobility of organic matter in the soil, with more terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) reaching aquatic systems. Changes in soil acidity also affect the quality of the DOM. In this study we explore the consequences this may have on the reactivity and turnover of the terrestrially derived DOM as it reaches the aquatic system. DOM of different quality (estimated by absorbance, fluorescence and size exclusion chromatography) was produced through extraction of boreal forest O-horizon soils from podzol at two sulfuric acid concentrations corresponding to natural throughfall in spruce forest in Southern Sweden around 1980 and today. Extraction was done using two different methods, i.e. field leaching and laboratory extraction. The DOM extracts were used to assess if differences in acidity generate DOM of different reactivity. Three reactivity experiments were performed: photodegradation by UV exposure, biodegradation by bacteria, and biodegradation after UV exposure. Reactivity was assessed by measuring loss of dissolved organic carbon and absorbance, change in fluorescence and molecular weight, and bacterial production. DOM extracted at lower sulfuric acid concentration was more susceptible to photooxidation, and less susceptible to bacterial degradation, than DOM extracted at a higher sulfuric acid concentration. Thus the relative importance of these two turnover processes may be altered with changes in acid deposition.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to recognize the valuable input by B. Bergkvist during the planning of the experiment, and A. R. Ismail and E. Larsson for assistance during the SEC analyses. This study received financial support from the Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation (Grant No. F02010-0104) and the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund to S. Ekström, as well as financial support from the Swedish Research Council to E. Kritzberg (2010-4081) and the Swedish Research Council Formas through the Strong Research Environment Managing multiple stressors in the Baltic Sea (217-2010-126). This manuscript has been greatly improved by comments from two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology/Aquatic Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Sara M. Ekström, P. Anders Nilsson & Emma S. Kritzberg

  2. Department of Chemistry/Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Margareta Sandahl

  3. Department of Environmental and Life Sciences/Biology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    P. Anders Nilsson

  4. Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Dan B. Kleja

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  1. Sara M. Ekström
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  2. Margareta Sandahl
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  5. Emma S. Kritzberg
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Correspondence to Emma S. Kritzberg.

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This article is part of the special issue ‘Carbon Cycling in Aquatic Ecosystems’.

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Ekström, S.M., Sandahl, M., Nilsson, P.A. et al. Reactivity of dissolved organic matter in response to acid deposition. Aquat Sci 78, 463–475 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0453-0

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