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Streams and rivers are important sources of nitrous oxide (N

Urbanization can result in multiple stressors for freshwater ecosystems including altered flow regimes, higher sediment loads and increased inorganic nutrient supply. The effects of urbanization on ecosystem processes including organic matter decomposition are poorly understood. Relationships between decomposition and nutrient levels are inconsistent, possibly due to interactions among stimulatory and inhibitory factors. We incubated leaf litter from two tree species (maple and oak) that differ in foliar chemistry in four streams that varied in the extent of suburbanization (human population density, concentrations of nitrate and chloride) and assessed decomposition rates and microbial activity. We found both stream and leaf species effects but the response of maple to the gradient of suburbanization was much stronger than oak. Although suburban streams were associated with reduced interspecific variability in decomposition rates, fungal biomass only responded to differences among leaf species. We observed high rates of mineralization suggesting that decomposition was not nutrient limited. Results show that multiple stressors may act antagonistically to create a muted signal of suburbanization, conditions where the effects of leaf species emerge to drive microbial activity. Understanding how decomposition responds to multiple factors associated with urbanization is essential for predicting how detrital-based food webs will respond to the Anthropocene.

While tropical cyclone regimes are shifting with climate change, the mechanisms underpinning the resistance (ability to withstand disturbance-induced change) and resilience (capacity to return to pre-disturbance reference) of tropical forest litterfall to cyclones remain largely unexplored pantropically. Single-site studies in Australia and Hawaii suggest that litterfall on low-phosphorus (P) soils is more resistant and less resilient to cyclones. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the pantropical importance of total soil P in mediating forest litterfall resistance and resilience to 22 tropical cyclones. We evaluated cyclone-induced and post-cyclone litterfall mass (g/m2 /day), and P and nitrogen (N) fluxes (mg/m2 /day) and concentrations (mg/g), all indicators of ecosystem function and essential for nutrient cycling. Across 73 case studies in Australia, Guadeloupe, Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Taiwan, total litterfall mass flux increased from ~2.5 ± 0.3 to 22.5 ± 3 g/m2 /day due to cyclones, with large variation among studies. Litterfall P and N fluxes post-cyclone represented ~5% and 10% of the average annual fluxes, respectively. Post-cyclone leaf litterfall N and P concentrations were 21.6 ± 1.2% and 58.6 ± 2.3% higher than pre-cyclone means. Mixed-effects models determined that soil P negatively moderated the pantropical litterfall resistance to cyclones, with a 100 mg P/kg increase in soil P corresponding to a 32% to 38% decrease in resistance. Based on 33% of the resistance case studies, total litterfall mass flux reached pre-disturbance levels within one-year post-disturbance. A GAMM indicated that soil P, gale wind duration and time post-cyclone jointly moderate the short-term resilience of total litterfall, with the nature of the relationship between resilience and soil P contingent on time and wind duration. Across pantropical forests observed to date, our results indicate that litterfall resistance and resilience in the face of intensifying cyclones will be partially determined by total soil P.

Rapid changes in land use, pollution inputs, and climate are altering the quantity, timing, and form of materials delivered from watersheds to estuaries. To better characterize these alterations simultaneous measurements of biogeochemical conditions in watersheds and estuaries over a range of times scales are needed. We examined the strength of watershed-estuarine biogeochemical coupling using in situ measurements of nitrate, terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and chloride collected over a 7-month period in a nitrogen-impaired estuary in northeastern US. The watershed exerted strong control over concentrations of terrestrially derived DOC in the estuary, attributable to relative homogeneity of watershed sources from forested land combined with relatively conservative behavior in estuarine waters. Estuarine nitrate patterns were more complex, suggesting the influence of heterogeneous watershed distribution of non-point and point sources and high reactivity of nitrate in the estuary. Understanding estuarine biogeochemical patterns will be advanced through greater use of simultaneous sub-hourly measurements of inflows, salinity, and water quality in estuaries and their upstream watersheds.

Tropical forests store large amounts of Earth’s terrestrial C, but many tropical montane streams have low dissolved organic matter (DOM). This low availability of energy likely limits certa...

The biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are inextricably linked for a range of reactions. For coupled reactions such as denitrification to occur, however, solutes must be found together in space and time. Using the framework of concentration-discharge (c-Q) relationships, we examine the frequency of synchronous C and N export (i.e. identical c-Q behavior) across a river network using > 5 years of high-frequency sensor data. We demonstrate that across space and time the export of C and N to a river network is asynchronous 57% of the time. The probability of simultaneous export in largely forested watersheds demonstrates little temporal structure, while in more human-impacted watersheds, we observe the highest frequency of asynchronous c-Q behavior. We discuss the implications of synchronous c-Q behavior for solute flux estimation models and develop a theoretical framework for predicting where within a landscape we expect the probability of coupled C and N reactions to be greatest. By simultaneously comparing the variability in C and N c-Q relationships we develop an integrated framework for predicting synchronous export of solutes.

Inland waters can be significant sources of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. However, considerable uncertainty remains in regional and global estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from freshwater ecosystems, particularly streams. Controls on GHG production in streams, such as water chemistry and sediment characteristics, are also poorly understood. The main objective of this study was to quantify spatial and temporal variability in GHG concentrations in 20 streams across a landscape with considerable variation in land use and land cover in New England, USA. Stream water was consistently supersaturated in CO2, CH4, and N2O, suggesting that these small streams are sources of GHGs to the atmosphere in this landscape. Results show that concentrations of dissolved CO2, CH4 and N2O differed in their spatial and temporal patterns and in their relationship to stream chemistry. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed a unique combination of predictor variables for each gas, suggesting variation in the landscape attributes and in-stream processes that control GHG concentrations. Although hydrologic conditions did not explain variation among sites, temporal patterns in GHG concentrations align with seasonal phenologies in flow and temperature. We developed a conceptual model based on these data that describes the spatial variability in GHG production from streams and that can elucidate the dominant controls on each gas. Developing an understanding of the factors controlling GHG dynamics in streams can help assess and predict how fluvial ecosystems will respond to changes in climate and land use and can be used to incorporate emissions from streams into regional and global GHG emission inventories.

Global climate change predictions include decreased precipitation and more frequent droughts in many world regions. In the aseasonal wet tropics, predicting potential impacts is particularl...

Tropical cyclones drive coastal ecosystem dynamics, and their frequency, intensity, and spatial distribution are predicted to shift with climate change. Patterns of resistance and resilience were synthesized for 4138 ecosystem time series from n = 26 storms occurring between 1985 and 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere to predict how coastal ecosystems will respond to future disturbance regimes. Data were grouped by ecosystems (fresh water, salt water, terrestrial, and wetland) and response categories (biogeochemistry, hydrography, mobile biota, sedentary fauna, and vascular plants). We observed a repeated pattern of trade-offs between resistance and resilience across analyses. These patterns are likely the outcomes of evolutionary adaptation, they conform to disturbance theories, and they indicate that consistent rules may govern ecosystem susceptibility to tropical cyclones.

Lithium isotopes are used to trace weathering intensity, but little is known about the processes that fractionate them in highly weathered settings, where secondary minerals play a dominant role in weathering reactions. To help fill this gap in our knowledge of Li isotope systematics, we investigated Li isotope fractionation at an andesitic catchment in Puerto Rico, where the highest rates of silicate weathering on Earth have been documented. We found the lowest δ7Li values published to date for porewater (−27‰) and bulk regolith (−38‰), representing apparent fractionations relative to parent rock of −31‰ and −42‰, respectively. We also found δ7Li values that are lower in the exchangeable fraction than in the bulk regolith or porewater, the opposite than expected from secondary mineral precipitation. We interpret these large isotopic offsets and the unusual relationships between Li pools as resulting from two distinct weathering processes at different depths in the regolith. At the bedrock‐regolith transition (9.3–8.5 m depth), secondary mineral precipitation preferentially retains the lighter 6Li isotope. These minerals then dissolve further up the profile, leaching 6Li from the bulk solid, with a total variation of about +50‰ within the profile, attributable primarily to clay dissolution. Importantly, streamwater δ7Li (about +35‰) is divorced entirely from these regolith weathering processes, instead reflecting deeper weathering reactions (>9.3 m). Our work thus shows that the δ7Li of waters draining highly weathered catchments may reflect bedrock mineralogy and hydrology, rather than weathering intensity in the regolith covering the catchment., Plain Language Summary: Weathering is the process by which rocks are altered at the Earth's surface, transforming fresh minerals into clays with some loss of chemical elements to rivers and eventually oceans. Understanding how intense weathering is now, and has been in the past, is important because it supplies nutrients for ecosystems and is part of the Earth's long‐term carbon cycle (and thus, climate regulation). To do this, geochemists have developed tracers of weathering intensity, of which Li isotopes (expressed as δ7Li) are considered to be the best. However, we know little about the behavior of Li isotopes in the tropics, where weathering is the most intense. To help make δ7Li a more robust tracer, we sampled a 10 m deep soil profile at a tropical catchment in Puerto Rico where rocks are dissolving very fast. We found that weathering here is so intense that clays are continuously dissolving, producing the lowest δ7Li values ever recorded on Earth, but that the stream water draining the catchment does not reflect these values. Our work thus expands the range of known values of this tracer and warns geochemists that δ7Li in rivers might not be directly related to weathering intensity in tropical catchments., Key Points: Lowest δ7Li values reported to date in nature (porewater = −27‰; bulk regolith = −38‰; exchangeable Lithium (Li) = −50‰). Large isotopic differences driven by clay precipitation, dissolution, and re‐precipitation processes. Li isotopes may not be appropriate tracers of weathering intensity for very highly weathered catchments., National Science Foundation (NSF) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, Alexander von Humboldt‐Stiftung (Humboldt‐Stiftung) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100005156, https://doi.org/10.4211/hs.28acde53dc5549f4a6e5d820364dd216

Anthropogenic land use has increased nutrient concentrations and altered dissolved organic matter (DOM) character and its bioavailability. Despite widespread recognition that DOM character and its reactivity can vary temporally, the relative influence of land use and stream order on DOM characteristics is poorly understood across seasons and the entire flow regime. We examined DOM character and 28-day bioavailable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) across a river network to determine the relative roles of land use and stream order in driving variability in DOM character and bioavailability throughout the year. DOM in 1st-order streams was distinct from higher stream orders with lower DOC concentrations, less aromatic (specific ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA

Mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation drive much of the variation in productivity across Earth's terrestrial ecosystems but do not explain variation in gross primary productivity (GPP) or ecosystem respiration (ER) in flowing waters. We document substantial variation in the magnitude and seasonality of GPP and ER across 222 US rivers. In contrast to their terrestrial counterparts, most river ecosystems respire far more carbon than they fix and have less pronounced and consistent seasonality in their metabolic rates. We find that variation in annual solar energy inputs and stability of flows are the primary drivers of GPP and ER across rivers. A classification schema based on these drivers advances river science and informs management. We thank Ted Stets, Jordan Read, Tom Battin, Sophia Bonjour, Marina Palta, and members of the Duke River Center for their help in developing these ideas. This work was supported by grants from the NSF 1442439 (to E.S.B. and J.W.H.), 1834679 (to R.O.H.), 1442451 (to R.O.H.), 2019528 (to R.O.H. and J.R.B.), 1442140 (to M.C.), 1442451 (to A.M.H.), 1442467 (to E.H.S.), 1442522 (to N.B.G.), 1624807 (to N.B.G.), and US Geological Survey funding for the working group was supported by the John Wesley Power Center for Analysis and Synthesis. Phil Savoy contributed as a postdoc- toral associate at Duke University and as a postdoctoral associate (contractor) at the US Geological Survey.

The forests of central Europe have undergone remarkable transitions in the past 40 years as air quality has improved dramatically. Retrospective analysis of Norway spruce (Picea abies) tree rings in the Czech Republic shows that air pollution (e.g. SO2 concentrations, high acidic deposition to the forest canopy) plays a dominant role in driving forest health. Extensive soil acidification occurred in the highly polluted "Black Triangle" in Central Europe, and upper mineral soils are still acidified. In contrast, acidic atmospheric deposition declined by 80% and atmospheric SO2 concentration by 90% between the late 1980s and 2010s. In this study we oserved that annual tree ring width (TRW) declined in the 1970s and subsequently recovered in the 1990s, tracking SO2 concentrations closely. Furthermore, recovery of TRW was similar in unlimed and limed stands. Despite large increases in soil base saturation, as well as soil pH, as a result of repeated liming starting in 1981, TRW growth was similar in limed and unlimed plots. TRW recovery was interrupted in 1996 when highly acidic rime (originating from more pronounced decline of alkaline dust than SO2 from local power plants) injured the spruce canopy, but recovered soon to the pre-episode growth. Across the long-term site history, changes in soil chemistry (pH, base saturation, Bc/Al soil solution ratio) cannot explain observed changes in TRW at the two study sites where we tracked soil chemistry. Instead, statistically significant recovery in TRW is linked to the trajectory of annual SO2 concentrations or sulfur deposition at all three stands.

The forests of central Europe have undergone remarkable transitions in the past 40 years as air quality has improved dramatically. Retrospective analysis of Norway spruce (Picea abies) tree rings in the Czech Republic shows that air pollution (e.g. SO2concentrations, high acidic deposition to the forest canopy) plays a dominant role in driving forest health. Extensive soil acidification occurred in the highly polluted “Black Triangle” in Central Europe, and upper mineral soils are still acidified. In contrast, acidic atmospheric deposition declined by 80% and atmospheric SO2concentration by 90% between the late 1980s and 2010s. Annual tree ring width (TRW) declined in the 1970s and subsequently recovered in the 1990s, tracking SO2concentrations closely. Furthermore, recovery of TRW was similar in unlimed and limed stands. Despite large increases in soil base saturation, as well as soil pH, as a result of repeated liming starting in 1981, TRW growth was similar in limed and unlimed plots. TRW recovery was interrupted in 1996 when highly acidic rim (originating from more pronounced decline of alkaline dust than SO2from local power plants) injured the spruce canopy, but recovered soon to the pre-episode growth. Across the long-term site history, changes in soil chemistry (pH, base saturation, Bc/Al soil solution ratio) cannot explain observed changes in TRW at the two study sites at which we tracked soil chemistry. Instead, statistically significant recovery in TRW is linked to the trajectory of annual SO2concentrations or sulfur deposition at all three stands.

Understanding the drivers of variability in the concentration and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in running waters is a fundamental challenge for aquatic biogeochemistry. Although multiple conceptual frameworks have been proposed to quantify expected changes in DOM within a river network, few studies have collected data to document the variability of DOM within such a network. We examine spatial and temporal variability in the concentration, optical properties, and biodegradability of DOM within a river network in New Hampshire, U.S.A. We examined dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and DOM optical properties across 21 locations within the Lamprey River network (548 km2) with weekly to monthly sampling for 4 years, and biodegradable DOC (BDOC) at 7 mainstem locations for 1 year. DOC concentration and DOM character were highly heterogeneous at the scale of the smallest streams, where variability in land cover and nutrient concentrations were also greatest. At the landscape scale, DOC concentrations and DOM aromaticity increased with wetland cover and decreased with developed land cover and nitrate concentrations. Despite this heterogeneity across streams, we observed similar synchronous seasonal variation in DOC concentration and DOM character regardless of position within the river network, suggesting that broad environmental factors shape the sources and transport of DOM in river networks. In contrast, variation in BDOC over time or across sites was not strongly related to DOM quality or other predictors. Spatiotemporal patterns in DOM provide insight into the complex processes that influence terrestrial carbon export, in-stream processes, and DOM delivery to downstream ecosystems.

Inland waters are significant sources of nitrous oxide (N2O), a powerful greenhouse gas. However, considerable uncertainty exists in the estimates of N2O efflux from global inland waters due to a lack of direct measurements in urban inland waters, which are generally characterized by high carbon and nitrogen concentrations and low carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. Herein, we present direct measurements of N2O concentrations and fluxes in lakes and rivers of Beijing, China, during 2018-2020. N2O concentrations and fluxes in the waters of Beijing exceeded previous estimates of global rivers due to the high carbon and nutrient concentrations and high aquatic productivity. In contrast, the N2O emission factor (N2O-N/DIN, median 0.0005) was lower than global medians and the N2O yield (ΔN2O/(ΔN2O + ΔN2), average 1.6%) was higher than those typically observed in rivers and streams. The positive relationship between N2O emissions and denitrifying bacteria as well as the Michaelis-Menten relationship between N2O emissions and NO3--N concentrations suggested that bacteria control the net production of N2O in waters of Beijing with N saturation, leading to a low N2O emission factor. However, low carbon-to-nitrogen ratios are beneficial for N2O accumulation during denitrification, resulting in high N2O yields. This study demonstrates the significant N2O emissions and their distinctive patterns and controls in urban inland waters and suggests that N2O emission estimates based on nitrogen loads and simple emission factor values are not appropriate for urban inland water systems.

In-situ monitoring of the temporal variation of solutes’ (nutrients and metals) concentrations as tracers can enhance knowledge of the hydrological and biogeochemical behavior of catchments. UV-Visible spectrometry represents a relatively inexpensive and easily used tool to explore how those concentrations vary in time at high temporal frequency. However, it is not yet clear which are the best calibration methods and which solutes can be modeled with this approach. In this investigation we explored the relationship between solutes’ concentrations and wavelength absorbance in the UV-Visible range to find the best calibration method and to identify solutes that could be effectively predicted. To this end, we installed a UV–Visible spectrometer probe in a high-altitude and organic-rich tropical Andean (Páramo) stream to record the wavelength absorbance at a 5-min temporal resolution from December 2017 to March 2019. Simultaneously, we sampled stream water at 4-hour frequency for subsequent determination of solutes via ICP-MS in the laboratory. Our results show that multivariate statistical methods outperformed simpler calibration strategies to model the solutes’ concentrations that could be effectively predicted using calibration and validation datasets. Eleven out of 21 evaluated solutes (Al, DOC, Ca, Cu, K, Mg, N, Na, Rb, Si and Sr) were successfully calibrated (NSE > 0.50). This finding suggests the possibility of calibrating solutes (i.e., metals) that had not previously been calibrated through UV-Visible spectrometry in the field. Interestingly, the calibration was feasible for all solutes that presented a statistically significant correlation with dissolved organic carbon. The findings of this research provide insights into the value of in-situ operation of spectrometers to monitor water quality in organic-rich streams (e.g., peatlands). This research contributes to our understanding of aquatic ecosystems alongside assessing catchment hydrological functioning and also can enhance the protection of human water supplies.

Streams and rivers of the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, have been the subject of extensive watershed and aquatic research since the 1980s. This research includes understanding stream export of nutrients and coarse particulate organic matter, physicochemical constituents, aquatic fauna populations and community structure. However, many of the streams and watersheds studied do not appear in standard scale maps. We document recent collaborative and multi-institutional work to improve hydrological network information and identify knowledge gaps. The methods used to delimit and densify stream networks include establishment and incorporation of an updated new vertical datum for Puerto Rico, LIDAR derived elevation, and a combination of visual-manual and automated digitalization processes. The outcomes of this collaborative effort have resulted in improved watershed delineation, densification of hydrologic networks to reflect the scale of on-going studies, and the identification of constraining factors such as unmapped roadways, culverts, and other features of the built environment that interrupt water flow and alter runoff pathways. This work contributes to enhanced knowledge for watershed management, including attributes of riparian areas, effects of road and channel intersections and ridge to reef initiatives with broad application to other watersheds.

Este artículo contiene 17 páginas, 6 figuras, 2 tablas., Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) are important energy and nutrient sources for aquatic ecosystems. In many northern temperate, freshwater systems DOC has increased in the past 50 years. Less is known about how changes in DOC may vary across latitudes, and whether changes in DON track those of DOC. Here, we present long-term DOC and DON data from 74 streams distributed across seven sites in biomes ranging from the tropics to northern boreal forests with varying histories of atmospheric acid deposition. For each stream, we examined the temporal trends of DOC and DON concentrations and DOC:DON molar ratios. While some sites displayed consistent positive or negative trends in stream DOC and DON concentrations, changes in direction or magnitude were inconsistent at regional or local scales. DON trends did not always track those of DOC, though DOC:DON ratios increased over time for ~30% of streams. Our results indicate that the dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool is experiencing fundamental changes due to the recovery from atmospheric acid deposition. Changes in DOC:DON stoichiometry point to a shifting energynutrient balance in many aquatic ecosystems. Sustained changes in the character of DOM can have major implications for stream metabolism, biogeochemical processes, food webs, and drinking water quality (including disinfection by-products). Understanding regional and global variation in DOC and DON concentrations is important for developing realistic models and watershed management protocols to effectively target mitigation efforts aimed at bringing DOM flux and nutrient enrichment under control., National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Grant/Award Number: 1016163, 1019522 and 1022291; Natural Environment Research Council, Grant/Award Number: NE/K010689/1; NSF EPSCoR, Grant/ Award Number: EPS-1929148; Division of Environmental Biology, Grant/ Award Number: 1545288 and 1556603; European Regional Development Fund, Grant/Award Number: RTI2018-094521- B-100 and RYC-2017-22643

The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) was established in 1955 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service out of concerns about the effects of logging increasing flooding and erosion. To address this issue, within the HBEF hydrological and micrometeorological monitoring was initiated in small watersheds designated for harvesting experiments. The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES) originated in 1963, with the idea of using the small watershed approach to study element fluxes and cycling and the response of forest ecosystems to disturbances, such as forest management practices and air pollution. Early evidence of acid rain was documented at the HBEF and research by scientists at the site helped shape acid rain mitigation policies. New lines of investigation at the HBEF have built on the long legacy of watershed research resulting in a shift from comparing inputs and outputs and quantifying pools and fluxes to a more mechanistic understanding of ecosystem processes within watersheds. For example, hydropedological studies have shed light on linkages between hydrologic flow paths and soil development that provide valuable perspective for managing forests and understanding stream water quality. New high frequency in situ stream chemistry sensors are providing insights about extreme events and diurnal patterns that were indiscernible with traditional weekly sampling. Additionally, tools are being developed for visual and auditory data exploration and discovery by a broad audience. Given the unprecedented environmental change that is occurring, data from the small watersheds at the HBEF are more relevant now than ever and will continue to serve as a basis for sound environmental decision-making. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

Stream solute monitoring has produced many insights into ecosystem and Earth system functions. Although new sensors have provided novel information about the fine‐scale temporal variation of some stream water solutes, we lack adequate sensor technology to gain the same insights for many other solutes. We used two machine learning algorithms – Support Vector Machine and Random Forest – to predict concentrations at 15‐min resolution for 10 solutes, of which eight lack specific sensors. The algorithms were trained with data from intensive stream sensing and manual stream sampling (weekly) for four full years in a hydrologic reference stream within the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA. The Random Forest algorithm was slightly better at predicting solute concentrations than the Support Vector Machine algorithm (Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiencies ranged from 0.35 to 0.78 for Random Forest compared to 0.29 to 0.79 for Support Vector Machine). Solute predictions were most sensitive to the removal of fluorescent dissolved organic matter, pH and specific conductance as independent variables for both algorithms, and least sensitive to dissolved oxygen and turbidity. The predicted concentrations of calcium and monomeric aluminium were used to estimate catchment solute yield, which changed most dramatically for aluminium because it concentrates with stream discharge. These results show great promise for using a combined approach of stream sensing and intensive stream discrete sampling to build information about the high‐frequency variation of solutes for which an appropriate sensor or proxy is not available.

Anthropogenic increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations can strongly influence the structure and function of ecosystems. Even though lotic ecosystems receive cumulative inputs of nutrients applied to and deposited on land, no comprehensive assessment has quantified nutrient-enrichment effects within streams and rivers. We conducted a meta-analysis of published studies that experimentally increased concentrations of N and/or P in streams and rivers to examine how enrichment alters ecosystem structure (state: primary producer and consumer biomass and abundance) and function (rate: primary production, leaf breakdown rates, metabolism) at multiple trophic levels (primary producer, microbial heterotroph, primary and secondary consumers, and integrated ecosystem). Our synthesis included 184 studies, 885 experiments, and 3497 biotic responses to nutrient enrichment. We documented widespread increases in organismal biomass and abundance (mean response = +48%) and rates of ecosystem processes (+54%) to enrichment across multiple trophic levels, with no large differences in responses among trophic levels or between autotrophic or heterotrophic food-web pathways. Responses to nutrient enrichment varied with the nutrient added (N, P, or both) depending on rate versus state variable and experiment type, and were greater in flume and whole-stream experiments than in experiments using nutrient-diffusing substrata. Generally, nutrient-enrichment effects also increased with water temperature and light, and decreased under elevated ambient concentrations of inorganic N and/or P. Overall, increased concentrations of N and/or P altered multiple food-web pathways and trophic levels in lotic ecosystems. Our results indicate that preservation or restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem functions of streams and rivers requires management of nutrient inputs and consideration of multiple trophic pathways.

Throughfall is the incoming precipitation that passes through a vegetative canopy. Because it represents the major fraction of incident precipitation that is delivered to the forest floor, it is central to understanding forest hydrology. The quantity of throughfall in a forest stand is related to canopy architecture and leaf morphology, because canopy structure can enhance or reduce interception losses. Meteorological conditions also affect throughfall generation, as interception is greater for a given total annual precipitation regime when storms are small, frequent, and of short duration. The hydrology of throughfall generation and appropriate methods of throughfall collection are well studied, with the literature suggesting that an extensive network of collectors is often required to accurately assess total throughfall inputs. Throughfall is enriched in many solutes relative to incoming precipitation, with the biggest increases noted for dissolved organic carbon, some nitrogen species, and potassium. Much of the interest in throughfall biogeochemistry for the past 40 years has been spurred by its importance in measuring dry deposition and documenting the effects of acidic deposition on forest ecosystems. In contrast, the fundamental ecological and evolutionary implications of temporal and spatial variability in throughfall chemistry are not well understood. Literature from other disciplines suggests that allelopathy should be considered as one factor contributing to the variability in throughfall biogeochemistry among tree species. Future work should focus on developing long-term records of throughfall quantity and chemistry for all major solutes, assessing variation in throughfall across biomes, and understanding its potential ecological and evolutionary significance.