DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Tracing autochthonous carbon production and fate in a mountain stream

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This doctoral dissertation improvement project will study the movement and transformation of carbon in streams. Streams and rivers are not passive pipes that merely transport carbon. Active uptake of carbon through photosynthesis and subsequent release of carbon through respiration takes place in streams and can lead to complex patterns of carbon exchange with the atmosphere as water moves from land to the oceans. This study will measure the amount of carbon in mountain streams that is respired, stored in living organisms, and transported downstream. Current freshwater carbon budgets include the role of terrestrial carbon processing, but have not addressed the role of in-stream carbon fixation and processing and, consequently, may underestimate rates of carbon dioxide transfer from streams to the atmosphere, carbon burial, and carbon export downstream. This study will help complete our understanding of the role streams and rivers play in carbon movement in the landscape.