Freshwater ecology articles within Nature Geoscience

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• Article | 28 July 2022

  Rewetting global wetlands effectively reduces major greenhouse gas emissions

  Global in situ observations show greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands are lowest when the water table is near the surface, and therefore rewetting wetlands could substantially reduce future emissions.

  • Junyu Zou
  • , Alan D. Ziegler
  •  & Zhenzhong Zeng

• Article | 21 July 2022

  Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data

  Field surveys suggest peatlands in the central Congo Basin are globally significant carbon stocks, storing approximately 28% of the world’s tropical peat carbon.

  • Bart Crezee
  • , Greta C. Dargie
  •  & Simon L. Lewis

• Article | 03 February 2022

  Global mapping reveals increase in lacustrine algal blooms over the past decade

  Algal blooms are occurring more frequently, as seen in a global database compiled from satellite imagery from the past few decades.

  • Xuejiao Hou
  • , Lian Feng
  •  & Chunmiao Zheng

• Review Article | 17 December 2018

  Anthropogenic stresses on the world’s big rivers

  Stressors such as large-scale damming, hydrological change, pollution, the introduction of non-native species and sediment mining are challenging the integrity and future of large rivers, according to a synthesis of the literature on the 32 biggest rivers.

  • Jim Best

• News & Views | 21 May 2018

  Stream metabolism heats up

  Higher stream temperatures as the climate warms could lead to lower ecosystem productivity and higher CO₂ emissions in streams. An analysis of stream ecosystems finds that such changes will be greatest in the warmest and most productive streams.

  • James B. Heffernan

• Article | 21 May 2018

  Continental-scale decrease in net primary productivity in streams due to climate warming

  An increase in stream temperature leads to a convergence of metabolic balance, overall decline in net ecosystem productivity, and higher CO₂ emissions from streams, according to analyses of temperature sensitivity of stream metabolism across six biomes.

  • Chao Song
  • , Walter K. Dodds
  •  & Ford Ballantyne IV

• News & Views | 30 April 2018

  Arctic streams in murky waters

  • Catherine L. Docherty

• News & Views | 12 June 2017

  Cleaner Chinese lakes

  Phosphorus loading can cause eutrophication of lakes. Analyses of lake chemistry in China reveal that policies have led to lower phosphorus levels overall, but increasing trends in some lakes suggest that expanded policies may be needed.

  • Jessica Corman

• Article | 01 May 2017

  Thermodynamically controlled preservation of organic carbon in floodplains

  Anoxic carbon decomposition is thought to depend on the energetics of electron acceptors. Mass spectrometry measurements of floodplain sediments reveal that the energetics of organic compounds can also determine whether they are decomposed.

  • Kristin Boye
  • , Vincent Noël
  •  & Scott Fendorf

• Letter | 12 September 2016

  Impact of warming on CO₂ emissions from streams countered by aquatic photosynthesis

  Aquatic CO₂ emissions are expected to increase if warming reduces photosynthesis relative to respiration. An analysis of streams across a 41 °C temperature gradient reveals that the thermal responses of respiration and photosynthesis are similar.

  • Benoît O. L. Demars
  • , Gísli M. Gíslason
  •  & Thomas E. Freitag

• News & Views | 22 August 2016

  It's a gas

  Climate change is causing widespread permafrost thaw in the Arctic. Measurements at 33 Arctic lakes show that old carbon from thawing permafrost is being emitted as methane, though emission rates have not changed during the past 60 years.

  • Torben R. Christensen

• News & Views | 11 April 2016

  The fate of phosphorus

  Phosphorus is essential for food production, but it is also a key cause of eutrophication. Estimates of phosphorus flux for the past 40–70 years reveal that large river basins can experience phases of phosphorus accumulation and depletion.

  • Julien Némery
  •  & Josette Garnier

• Letter | 09 November 2015

  Significant fraction of CO₂ emissions from boreal lakes derived from hydrologic inorganic carbon inputs

  Lakes are a large source of CO₂. An analysis of chemical and physical data from 5,118 boreal lakes reveals that a majority emit CO₂ originating primarily from terrestrial sources rather than CO₂ produced within the lakes.

  • Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer
  • , Sarian Kosten
  •  & Fabio Roland

• Letter | 10 August 2015

  Sources of and processes controlling CO₂ emissions change with the size of streams and rivers

  Rivers and streams are key sources of CO₂. Estimated emissions and aquatic productivity from across the US show that small streams predominantly emit CO₂ produced in soils, but the contribution from aquatic metabolism increases with river size.

  • E. R. Hotchkiss
  • , R. O. Hall Jr
  •  & J. Karlsson

• Letter | 25 May 2015

  Persistence of dissolved organic matter in lakes related to its molecular characteristics

  Organic matter’s molecular structure has been thought to influence its decomposition. Analyses of dissolved organic carbon in Swedish lakes found that aliphatic and N-containing compounds persisted, while oxidized aromatic compounds were lost.

  • Anne M. Kellerman
  • , Dolly N. Kothawala
  •  & Lars J. Tranvik

• News & Views | 22 December 2014

  Old carbon mobilized

  Soil contains aged organic carbon that can be hundreds or thousands of years old. Human disturbance in small and large watersheds is mobilizing some of this fossil carbon from soils to aquatic systems.

  • Chris Evans

• Letter | 17 February 2013

  Predator-induced reduction of freshwater carbon dioxide emissions

  Predators can potentially influence the exchange of carbon dioxide between ecosystems and the atmosphere. Predator manipulation experiments with fish and invertebrates in a range of freshwater systems suggest that freshwater carbon dioxide emissions are reduced in the presence of predators.

  • Trisha B. Atwood
  • , Edd Hammill
  •  & John S. Richardson

• Letter | 06 January 2013

  Hotspots of anaerobic ammonium oxidation at land–freshwater interfaces

  Anammox, anaerobic ammonium oxidation, accounts for over 50% of nitrogen loss in marine ecosystems. A field study in north China reveals hotspots of anammox activity in sediments sampled from land–lake interfaces.

  • Guibing Zhu
  • , Shanyun Wang
  •  & Chengqing Yin

• Feature | 21 December 2012

  Freshwater in flux

  A surprising fraction of Earth's element cycling takes place in inland waters. Jonathan Cole suggests that interactions between these water bodies and the terrestrial biosphere are more extensive and interesting than previously thought.

  • Jonathan Cole

• News & Views | 29 November 2012

  Complex water future

  • Heike Langenberg

• Letter | 25 April 2010

  Abiotic nitrous oxide emission from the hypersaline Don Juan Pond in Antarctica

  Nitrous oxide is a potent atmospheric greenhouse gas that is thought to be produced in soils through biological processes. Field measurements reveal nitrous oxide fluxes near Don Juan Pond, Antarctica — of comparable magnitude to those found in tropical soils — which may result from abiotic water–rock reactions.

  • Vladimir A. Samarkin
  • , Michael T. Madigan
  •  & Samantha B. Joye