MODELING CARBON BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING IN INTEGRATED LAKE AND RIVER NETWORKS

Understanding carbon cycling across inland aquatic systems is critical because they link the land to the ocean and atmosphere. The transformation of carbon across aquatic landscapes has been studied, but few studies have considered both lakes and rivers in a network. To address this knowledge gap, a process-based model was created to evaluate the fate of carbon given different quantities, sizes, and spacing of lakes in theoretical river networks. The model has carbon inputs from both labile and recalcitrant DOC, pCO2, and POC, and returns reach and network scale equilibrium values for these pools. Our goal is to understand the effects and interactions between river-lake network structure, carbon quality, and climate (using temperature as a climate proxy) on the processing and fate of carbon moving through inland waters.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Veronica Slevin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (vjslevin4@gmail.com)

Authors:

Veronica Slevin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  (vslev@unc.edu)

Stuart Jones, Annis Water Resources Center, Grand Valley State University  (jonesstu@gvsu.edu)

John Gardner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  (johngardner87@gmail.com)