Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Biogeochemistry

Conduits of the carbon cycle

Nature volume 503, pages 346–347 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Emissions of carbon dioxide from inland waters to the atmosphere are a crucial link in the global carbon cycle. A comprehensive analysis reveals that this connection is much stronger than was previously thought. See Article p.355

The global river system acts as a gigantic transportation network for water and dissolved substances, but this pipeline is leaking carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at surprisingly high rates. On page 355 of this issue, Raymond et al.1 report that rivers emit about five times times more CO2 to the atmosphere than all lakes and reservoirs put together. The authors' spatial analysis reveals a flux of this greenhouse gas that is larger than previously estimated and dominated by hotspot regions in the tropics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Inland waters in the global carbon cycle.

References

  1. Raymond, P. A. et al. Nature 503, 355–359 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Battin, T. J. et al. Nature Geosci. 2, 598–600 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Aufdenkampe, A. K. et al. Front. Ecol. Environ. 9, 53–60 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Stumm, W. & Morgan, J. J. Aquatic Chemistry: Chemical Equilibria and Rates in Natural Waters 3rd edn (Wiley, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Raymond, P. A. et al. Limnol. Oceanogr. Fluids Environ. 2, 41–53 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Downing, J. A. et al. Limnol. Oceanogr. 51, 2388–2397 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Zurbrügg, R., Suter, S., Lehmann, M. F., Wehrli, B. & Senn, D. B. Biogeosciences 10, 23–38 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Feng, X. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 14168–14173 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Abril, G. et al. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 19, GB4007 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Tockner, K., Uehlinger, U. & Robinson, C. T. Rivers of Europe (Elsevier, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bernhard Wehrli is at the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland, and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum.,

    Bernhard Wehrli

Authors
  1. Bernhard Wehrli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernhard Wehrli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wehrli, B. Conduits of the carbon cycle. Nature 503, 346–347 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/503346a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/503346a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing