Collaborative Research: RUI: The Pulse-Shunt Concept: A Conceptual Framework for Quantifying and Forecasting Watershed DOM Fluxes and Transformations at the MacroSystem Scale

碳、营养物质和污染物从陆地向河流的转移及其在河流网络中流动时的变化是激励环境科学家和水资源管理人员的问题。溶解有机物(DOM)是溪流和河流中的一种中心化学物质，它影响污染物的形式和运动、光在水中的穿透、溪流中生命的新陈代谢、PH值和市政当局水处理的效率。这项研究旨在提高对DOM从小源头溪流中形成和移动的预测，以及我们对DOM在向下游移动过程中改变其数量和形式的因素的理解。这项研究的目标之一是极大地改进DOM在穿过分水岭进入源头溪流时的运输和转化的计算机模型。这个模型将产生径流的降雨和径流与生物和化学过程联系起来，生物和化学过程导致DOM的数量和形式发生变化。该模型将与康涅狄格河沿其长度的几条源头的DOM的实际测量结果进行对比测试。然后还将在康涅狄格河下游的更大部分进行测量，这将有助于解释DOM如何沿整个排水网络变化。这个项目挑战了长期以来关于溪流和河流如何工作的图景，称为河流连续体概念，提出可能需要一个更新的观点，称为脉冲分流概念。这个项目将包括研究生和博士后助理在实验室，现场，和模型的研究结束。它还将与康涅狄格州科学博物馆建立伙伴关系，为普通公众建立与流域生态和管理有关的教育活动和展示。

The transfers of carbon, nutrients and pollutants from the land to streams and their changes as they move through river networks are issues that motivate environmental scientists and water resource managers. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a central chemical in streams and rivers that affects the forms and movements of contaminants, light penetration through the water, metabolism of life in the streams, pH, and the efficiency of water treatments by municipalities. This study aims to improve predictions of DOM formation and movement from small headwater streams and our understanding of the factors that change the amount and forms of DOM during as it moves downstream. One goal of this research is to greatly improve a computer model of DOM transport and transformation as it moves through a watershed and into the headwater streams. This model links rainfall and runoff that generate streamflow to the biological and chemical processes that lead to changes in the amount and forms of DOM. The model will be tested against actual measurements of DOM made in several headwater streams of the Connecticut River along its length. Measurements will then also be made in larger parts of the Connecticut River downriver that will help explain how DOM changes along the entire drainage network. This project challenges a long standing picture of how streams and rivers work, called the River Continuum Concept, proposing that a newer view may be required, referred to as the Pulse-Shunt Concept. This project will involve graduate students and a post-doctoral associate in the laboratory, field, and modeling ends of the research. It will also build on a partnership with the Connecticut Science Museum to construct educational activities and displays related to watershed ecology and management for the general public.