Poster Details
EVOLUTION OF STREAM WATER QUALITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION ALONG AN URBAN CORRIDOR IN WINTER - BOULDER CREEK, CO
We deployed in situ sensors in Boulder Creek at three sites: upstream of Boulder, CO in Boulder Canyon, downstream of Boulder just upstream of its wastewater treatment plant effluent (WWE), and ~8 km downstream from the WWE. For a 5-day period in December 2016, average DO and SC were 11.86 mg L-1 and 83 uS cm-1 at the upstream site, 10.82 mg L-1 and 460 uS cm-1 at the middle site, and 11.22 mg L-1 and 761 uS cm-1 at the downstream site. Metabolism models fit poorly at the upstream site due to low productivity and high reaeration rates. Modeled gross primary productivity, community respiration, net ecological production, and reaeration coefficients were 2.39 gO2m-2d-1, -9.82 gO2m-2d-1, -7.43 gO2m-2d-1 and 18.7 d-1 for the middle site and 0.89 gO2m-2d-1, -1.41 gO2m-2d-1, -0.52 gO2m-2d-1, and 5.71 d-1 for the downstream site. The rapid evolution of biogeochemistry and metabolism of the stream creates large spatial structure in the ecological functioning as well as the cycling of carbon and nutrients in this stream.
Margaret Spangler (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Colorado, margaret.spangler@colorado.edu;
Michael Gooseff ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Colorado, michael.gooseff@colorado.edu;
Edward Stets ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Geological Survey, tedstets@gmail.com;
Sheila Murphy ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), US Geological Survey, sfmurphy@usgs.gov;