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土地向河流的转移以及它们在流经河流网络时的变化是激励环境科学家和水资源管理者的问题。溶解有机物（DOM）是溪流和河流中的核心化学物质，它影响污染物的形式和运动、水中的光穿透、溪流中生命的新陈代谢、pH值和市政当局的水处理效率。本研究旨在提高对小源头流DOM形成和移动的预测，以及我们对下游移动过程中改变DOM数量和形式的因素的理解。本研究的一个目标是大大改进DOM传输和转换的计算机模型，因为它通过分水岭进入源头流。该模型将产生水流的降雨和径流与导致DOM数量和形式变化的生物和化学过程联系起来。该模型将与康涅狄格河沿其长度的几条源头溪流的DOM实际测量结果进行测试。随后，康涅狄格河下游的大部分地区也将进行测量，这将有助于解释DOM如何沿着整个排水网络变化。该项目挑战了长期以来关于溪流和河流如何工作的观点，即河流连续概念，提出可能需要一种新的观点，即脉冲分流概念。该项目将涉及研究生和博士后助理在实验室，现场和建模的研究。它还将与康涅狄格科学博物馆建立合作关系，为公众举办与流域生态学和管理有关的教育活动和展览。

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.