Using multi-tracer inference to move beyond single-catchment ecohydrology

Protecting or restoring aquatic ecosystems in the face of growing anthropogenic pressures requires an understanding of hydrological and biogeochemical functioning across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Recent technological and methodological advances have vastly increased the number and divers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth-science reviews 2016-09, Vol.160, p.19-42
Main Authors: Abbott, Benjamin W., Baranov, Viktor, Mendoza-Lera, Clara, Nikolakopoulou, Myrto, Harjung, Astrid, Kolbe, Tamara, Balasubramanian, Mukundh N., Vaessen, Timothy N., Ciocca, Francesco, Campeau, Audrey, Wallin, Marcus B., Romeijn, Paul, Antonelli, Marta, Gonçalves, José, Datry, Thibault, Laverman, Anniet M., de Dreuzy, Jean-Raynald, Hannah, David M., Krause, Stefan, Oldham, Carolyn, Pinay, Gilles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic ecology
Aquatic ecosystems
Biogeochemistry
Biological diversity
Crossed proxies
Damkohler number
Damköhler
Earth science
Earth Sciences
Ecohydrology
Ecosystems
Environmental hydrology
Environmental Sciences
Exposure time
Flowpath
Global Changes
Groundwater
GW-SW interactions
Heterogeneity
Hot moments
Hot spots
HotDam
Hydrological tracer
Hydrology
Péclet
Reactive transport
Residence time
Sciences of the Universe
Surface water
Tracer
Tracers
Transformations
Water
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Summary:Protecting or restoring aquatic ecosystems in the face of growing anthropogenic pressures requires an understanding of hydrological and biogeochemical functioning across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Recent technological and methodological advances have vastly increased the number and diversity of hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological tracers available, providing potentially powerful tools to improve understanding of fundamental problems in ecohydrology, notably: 1. Identifying spatially explicit flowpaths, 2. Quantifying water residence time, and 3. Quantifying and localizing biogeochemical transformation. In this review, we synthesize the history of hydrological and biogeochemical theory, summarize modern tracer methods, and discuss how improved understanding of flowpath, residence time, and biogeochemical transformation can help ecohydrology move beyond description of site-specific heterogeneity. We focus on using multiple tracers with contrasting characteristics (crossing proxies) to infer ecosystem functioning across multiple scales. Specifically, we present how crossed proxies could test recent ecohydrological theory, combining the concepts of hotspots and hot moments with the Damköhler number in what we call the HotDam framework.
ISSN:0012-8252
1872-6828
1872-6828
DOI:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.06.014