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Fe(III) hydroxides stabilize organic carbon (OC) and P in soils. Observations of rising stream Fe concentrations are controversially posited to result from a flushing of iron-rich deeper soil layers or a decrease of competing electron acceptors inhibiting Fe reduction (NO3- and SO42-). Here, we argue that catchment topography constrains the release of Fe, OC, and P to streams. We therefore incubated organic topsoil and mineral subsoil and modified the availability of NO3-. We found that Fe leaching was highest in topsoil. Fe, OC, and P released at quantities proportional to their ratios in the source soil. Supply of NO3- reduced Fe leaching to 18% and increased pore water OC:Fe and P:Fe ratios. Subsoil, however, was an insignificant Fe source (<0.5%). Here, the leached quantities of Fe, OC and P were highly disproportionate to the soil source with an excess of released OC and P. We tested if experimental findings scale up using data from 88 German catchments representing gradients in NO3- concentration and topography. Average stream Fe concentrations increased with decreasing NO3- and were high in catchments with shallow topography where high groundwater levels support reductive processes and topsoils are hydrologically connected to streams; but Fe concentrations were low in catchments with steep topography where flow occurs primarily through subsoils. OC:Fe and P:Fe ratios in the streams similarly varied by NO3- and topography. This corroborates the findings from the laboratory experiment and suggests that catchment topography and competing electron acceptors constrain the formation of Fe-reducing conditions and control the release of Fe, OC, and P to streams. © 2022. The Authors.

Deforestation is currently a widespread phenomenon and a growing environmental concern in the era of rapid climate change. In temperate regions, it is challenging to quantify the impacts of deforestation on the catchment dynamics and downstream aquatic ecosystems such as reservoirs and disentangle these from direct climate change impacts, let alone project future changes to inform management. Here, we tackled this issue by investigating a unique catchment-reservoir system with two reservoirs in distinct trophic states (meso- and eutrophic), both of which drain into the largest drinking water reservoir in Germany. Due to the prolonged droughts in 2015-2018, the catchment of the mesotrophic reservoir lost an unprecedented area of forest (exponential increase since 2015 and ca. 17.1% loss in 2020 alone). We coupled catchment nutrient exports (HYPE) and reservoir ecosystem dynamics (GOTM-WET) models using a process-based modelling approach. The coupled model was validated with datasets spanning periods of rapid deforestation, which makes our future projections highly robust. Results show that in a short-term time scale (by 2035), increasing nutrient flux from the catchment due to vast deforestation (80% loss) can turn the mesotrophic reservoir into a eutrophic state as its counterpart. Our results emphasize the more prominent impacts of deforestation than the direct impact of climate warming in impairment of water quality and ecological services to downstream aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, we propose to evaluate the impact of climate change on temperate reservoirs by incorporating a time scale-dependent context, highlighting the indirect impact of deforestation in the short-term scale. In the long-term scale (e.g. to 2100), a guiding hypothesis for future research may be that indirect effects (e.g., as mediated by catchment dynamics) are as important as the direct effects of climate warming on aquatic ecosystems.

Heavy metal pollution in sediments is a common environmental issue in small- and medium-sized reservoirs not only in China but also worldwide; however, few interpretations of the pollution pattern exist. Based on the analyses of accumulation characteristics, ecological risks, and source apportionments of eight heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, and Zn) in sediments, we derived a paradigm to describe the pollution pattern of heavy metals in sediments of a typical small- and medium-sized Tongjiqiao Reservoir. The results showed high levels of Cd, Hg, and As pollutants in the surface and upper sediment layers of the pre-dam area. Additionally, As, Cd, Hg, and Pb pollutants peaked in the middle layers of the inflow area, indicating a high ecological risk in these areas. The positive matrix factorization results implied that industrial, agricultural, and transportation activities were the main sources of heavy metals. The heavy metal pollution pattern exhibited three distinct stages: low contamination, rapid pollution, and pollution control. This pattern explains the heavy metal pollution process in the sediments and will provide scientific guidance for realizing the green and sustainable operation and development of the reservoir.

The internal load of metals and nutrients in reservoirs can be derived from fluxes at the sediment–water interface via pore water (PW) and may affect the water quality. The main goal of this study was to investigate the distribution and fluxes of nutrients and metals at SWI in a subtropical reservoir. Sediments cores were collected at five sites in Itupararanga Reservoir and sliced at 1-cm depth intervals (2-cm from 6 cm deep). PW was extracted and analysed by its dissolved cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+) metals (Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni e Zn), nutrient (total dissolved phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus-SRP; NO3; NH4+) and C content. The sediments were analysed by porosity, particle size distribution and contents of C, N and P. Fluxes at SWI were calculated using Fick's law in one dimension. P was being released to the water column at Core 5, by the mineralisation of OM by oxic pathways and retained at Core 2. Although Core 4 had high P concentration on PW, no results of flux was possible due to lack on bottom water data. No concentration of SRP was detected in PW of Core 1 and 7. Release of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cr was also observed. SRP was absent at the most eutrophic site (Core 1). The contribution of 74.83 mg m−2 SRP day−1 at Core 2 was potentially harmful to water quality. This study showed the importance of investigating sediment interstitial water and expanded a discussion in sub-climatic environments on the release and contribution of sediments in the geochemistry of P in aquatic ecosystems.

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Toxic cyanobacteria blooms are a frequent problem in subtropical reservoirs and freshwater systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of potentially toxic cyanobacteria and the environmental conditions associated with the presence of cyanotoxins in a Brazilian subtropical reservoir. Five collections were carried out at seven sampling locations in the reservoir, during the rainy and dry seasons, between the years 2016 and 2017. There was permanent occurrence of Raphidiopsis raciborskii (Woloszynska) Aguilera, Berrendero Gómez, Kastovsky, Echenique & Salerno (Phycologia 57(2):130–146, 2018), ranging between dominant and abundant, with an average biomass of 38.8 ± 29.9 mg L−1. Also abundant were Dolichospermum solitarium, D. planctonicum, Planktothrix isothrix, and Aphanizomenon gracile. Saxitoxin (STX) was detected in all the collected samples (0.11 ± 0.05 µg L−1). Microcystin (MC) was also detected, but at lower concentrations (0.01 ± 0.0 µg L−1). Low availability of NO3− and phosphorus limitation had significant effects on the R. raciborskii biomass and the levels of STX and MC. It was observed that R. raciborskii was sensitive to thermal stratification, at the same time that STX levels were higher. This suggested that STX was produced under conditions that restricted the growth of R. raciborskii. These are important findings, because they add information about the permanent occurrence of STX and R. raciborskii in an aquatic ecosystem limited by phosphorus, vulnerable to climatic variations, and polluted by domestic effluents.

Musty and earthy substances represented by 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) are important pollutants not only affecting the water quality but also threatening the security of drinking water sources in lakes and reservoirs. In this study, we investigated the spatial and seasonal distributions of 2-MIB in waters of Lake Yangcheng, a large eutrophic shallow lake in China. Driving factors affecting the production and accumulation of 2-MIB were further analyzed. The results showed that 2-MIB concentrations in Lake Yangcheng ranged from 0.4 to 940.6 ng/L, with a high annual average concentration of 35.6 ng/L. Distinct seasonal and spatial variations of 2-MIB were found in the lake waters. Specifically, 2-MIB concentrations were highest in summer, followed by spring and autumn, and lowest in winter, whereas 2-MIB concentrations generally exceeded the odor threshold (< 10 ng/L) in the first three seasons. Spatially, 2-MIB concentrations were highest in the eastern lake, and followed by the central and the western lake. The environmental conditions of a higher water temperature and lower TN:TP ratio (TN:TP < 29:1) were more favorable to the production and accumulation of 2-MIB in Lake Yangcheng. The algal abundance analysis and correlation analysis showed that cyanobacteria species including Microcystis spp. and Phormidium spp. were closely related to the production of 2-MIB and were considered as the main driving factors of the accumulation of 2-MIB in Lake Yangcheng. Therefore, controlling the eutrophication level and algal blooms are of great importance to alleviate 2-MIB pollution in lake waters.

Temperate lakes/reservoirs are warming; this can influence the benthic release of nutrients. They undergo seasonal changes resulting in an array of temperature and oxygen conditions; oxic-low, oxic-high, anoxic-low, and anoxic-high temperature. We sought to understand the interaction of temperature and oxygen conditions on benthic solutes exchange through a two-factorial sediment core incubation experiment by varying either temperature or oxygen conditions of sediment cores from an oligotrophic and eutrophic reservoir. Temperature and oxygen conditions are both important for nutrient release; however, they influence solutes differently; differences in the fluxes of the treatments were explained more by temperature for P, DOC and N, while for Fe, Mn and SO42−, differences were explained more by oxygen conditions. The combination of strongly reducing conditions (due to anoxia) and high temperature (20 °C) led to a significant increase in nutrients concentrations in the overlying water. Under these conditions, SRP flux was 0.04 and 0.5 mmol m−2 d−1; ammonium was 0.9 and 5.6 mmol m−2 d−1 for the oligotrophic and eutrophic reservoir, respectively. We observed a synergistic interaction between temperature and oxygen conditions which resulted in release of solutes from sediments. An increase in nutrients release under increasing temperatures is more likely and so are algal blooms.

Dissolved organic matter plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems and poses a major problem for drinking water production. However, our understanding of DOM reactivity in natural systems is hampered by its complex molecular composition. Here, we used Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and data from two independent studies to disentangle DOM reactivity based on photochemical and microbial induced transformations. Robust correlations of FT-ICR-MS peak intensities with chlorophyll a and solar irradiation were used to define 9 reactivity classes for 1277 common molecular formulas. Germany`s largest drinking water reservoir was sampled for one year and DOM processing in stratified surface waters could be attributed to photochemical transformation during summer months. Microbial DOM alterations could be distinguished based on correlation coefficients with chlorophyll a and often shared molecular features (elemental ratios, mass) with photo reactive compounds. Specifically, many photo products and some microbial products were identified as potential precursors of disinfection byproducts. Molecular DOM features were used to further predict molecular reactivity for the remaining compounds in the data set based on a random forest model. Our method offers an expandable classification approach to integrate reactivity of DOM from specific environments and link it to molecular properties and chemistry.

In temperate lakes, it is generally assumed that light rather than temperature constrains phytoplankton growth in winter. Rapid winter warming and increasing observations of winter blooms warrant more investigation of these controls. We investigated the mechanisms regulating a massive winter diatom bloom in a temperate lake. High frequency data and process-based lake modeling demonstrated that phytoplankton growth in winter was dually controlled by light and temperature, rather than by light alone. Water temperature played a further indirect role in initiating the bloom through ice-thaw, which increased light exposure. The bloom was ultimately terminated by silicon limitation and sedimentation. These mechanisms differ from those typically responsible for spring diatom blooms and contributed to the high peak biomass. Our findings show that phytoplankton growth in winter is more sensitive to temperature, and consequently to climate change, than previously assumed. This has implications for nutrient cycling and seasonal succession of lake phytoplankton communities. The present study exemplifies the strength in integrating data analysis with different temporal resolutions and lake modeling. The new lake ecological model serves as an effective tool in analyzing and predicting winter phytoplankton dynamics for temperate lakes.