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Lakes process large volumes of organic carbon (OC), are important sources of methane (CH4), and contribute to climatic warming. However, there is a lack of data from large lakes >500 km2, which creates uncertainty in global budgets. In this data article, we present dissolved CH4, OC bioreactivity measurements, water chemistry, and algal biovolumes at 11 stations across Lake Mälaren, the third largest (1,074 km2) Swedish lake. Total phosphorus concentrations show that during the study period the lake was classed as mesotrophic/eutrophic. Overall mean CH4 concentration from all stations, sampled five times to cover seasonal variation, was 2.51 μg l−1 (0.98–5.39 μg l−1). There was no significant seasonal variation although ranges were greatest during summer. Concentrations of CH4 were greatest in shallow waters close to anthropogenic nutrient sources, whilst deeper, central basins had lower concentrations. Methane correlated positively with measures of lake productivity (chlorophyll a, total phosphorus), and negatively to water depth and oxygen concentration, with oxygen emerging as the sole significant driver in a linear mixed effects model. We collated data from other lakes >500 km2 (n = 21) and found a significant negative relationship between surface area and average CH4 concentration. Large lakes remain an understudied contributor to the global CH4 cycle and future research efforts should aim to quantify the spatial and temporal variation in their diffusive and ebullitive emissions, and associated drivers. Plain Language Summary: Lakes contribute to climatic warming, because they emit large amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. This occurs because lake bottom sediments and lake waters are home to microbes that produce methane, which then travels diffusively in a dissolved form, or as bubbles, through the lake water and into the air. There is large uncertainty about how much methane is released by lakes on a global scale, and more measurements are required to reduce this uncertainty, particularly from very large lakes. In our study, we measured dissolved methane from 11 sampling locations across a very large Swedish lake, and repeated this five times over a year. Levels of methane within the lake were generally low, but they varied over space and time. Higher methane levels occurred in shallower waters near large towns and cities, and were associated with greater concentrations of nutrients such as phosphorus, which act as food for the methane‐producing microbes. Key Points: Lakes are globally important sources of atmospheric methane but there is a lack of data from large lakes >500 km2We measured methane concentrations across a large (1,074 km2) Swedish lake on five occasions over an annual periodMethane varied seasonally and spatially, and higher concentrations were associated with nutrient inputs, lower dissolved oxygen, and shallower waters [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small waterbodies have potentially high greenhouse gas emissions relative to their small footprint on the landscape, although there is high uncertainty in model estimates. Scaling their carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) exchange with the atmosphere remains challenging due to an incomplete understanding and characterization of spatial and temporal variability in CO2 and CH4. Here, we measured partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2) and CH4 (pCH4) across 30 ponds and shallow lakes during summer in temperate regions of Europe and North America. We sampled each waterbody in three locations at three times during the growing season, and tested which physical, chemical, and biological characteristics related to the means and variability of pCO2 and pCH4 in space and time. Summer means of pCO2 and pCH4 were inversely related to waterbody size and positively related to floating vegetative cover; pCO2 was also positively related to dissolved phosphorus. Temporal variability in partial pressure in both gases weas greater than spatial variability. Although sampling on a single date was likely to misestimate mean seasonal pCO2 by up to 26%, mean seasonal pCH4 could be misestimated by up to 64.5%. Shallower systems displayed the most temporal variability in pCH4 and waterbodies with more vegetation cover had lower temporal variability. Inland waters remain one of the most uncertain components of the global carbon budget; understanding spatial and temporal variability will ultimately help us to constrain our estimates and inform research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater chemistry across the circumpolar region was characterised using a pan‐Arctic data set from 1,032 lake and 482 river stations. Temporal trends were estimated for Early (1970–1985), Middle (1986–2000), and Late (2001–2015) periods. Spatial patterns were assessed using data collected since 2001.Alkalinity, pH, conductivity, sulfate, chloride, sodium, calcium, and magnesium (major ions) were generally higher in the northern‐most Arctic regions than in the Near Arctic (southern‐most) region. In particular, spatial patterns in pH, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium appeared to reflect underlying geology, with more alkaline waters in the High Arctic and Sub Arctic, where sedimentary bedrock dominated.Carbon and nutrients displayed latitudinal trends, with lower levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen, and (to a lesser extent) total phosphorus (TP) in the High and Low Arctic than at lower latitudes. Significantly higher nutrient levels were observed in systems impacted by permafrost thaw slumps.Bulk temporal trends indicated that TP was higher during the Late period in the High Arctic, whereas it was lower in the Near Arctic. In contrast, DOC and total nitrogen were both lower during the Late period in the High Arctic sites. Major ion concentrations were higher in the Near, Sub, and Low Arctic during the Late period, but the opposite bulk trend was found in the High Arctic.Significant pan‐Arctic temporal trends were detected for all variables, with the most prevalent being negative TP trends in the Near and Sub Arctic, and positive trends in the High and Low Arctic (mean trends ranged from +0.57%/year in the High/Low Arctic to −2.2%/year in the Near Arctic), indicating widespread nutrient enrichment at higher latitudes and oligotrophication at lower latitudes.The divergent P trends across regions may be explained by changes in deposition and climate, causing decreased catchment transport of P in the south (e.g. increased soil binding and trapping in terrestrial vegetation) and increased P availability in the north (deepening of the active layer of the permafrost and soil/sediment sloughing). Other changes in concentrations of major ions and DOC were consistent with projected effects of ongoing climate change. Given the ongoing warming across the Arctic, these region‐specific changes are likely to have even greater effects on Arctic water quality, biota, ecosystem function and services, and human well‐being in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In‐situ sensors for riverine water quality monitoring are a powerful tool to describe temporal variations when efficient and informative analyses are applied to the large quantities of data collected. Concentration‐discharge hysteresis patterns observed during storm events give insights into headwater catchment processes. However, the applicability of this approach to larger catchments is less well known. Here, we evaluate the potential for high‐frequency turbidity‐discharge (Q) hysteresis patterns to give insights into processes operating in a meso‐scale (722 km2) northern mixed land use catchment. As existing event identification methods did not work, we developed a new, objective method based on hydrograph characteristics and identified 76 events for further analysis. Qualitative event analysis identified three recurring patterns. Events with low mean Q (≤ 2 m3/s) often showed short‐term, quasi‐periodic turbidity variation, to a large extent disconnected from Q variation. High max Q events (≥15 m3/s) were often associated with spring flood or snowmelt, and showed a disconnection between turbidity and Q. Intermediate Q events (mean Q: 2–11 m3/s) were the most informative when applying hysteresis indexes, since changes in turbidity and Q were actually connected. Hysteresis indexes could be calculated on a subset of 60 events, which showed heterogeneous responses: 38% had a clockwise response, 12% anticlockwise, 12% figure eight (clockwise–anticlockwise), 10% reverse figure eight (anticlockwise–clockwise) and 28% showed a complex response. Clockwise hysteresis responses were associated with the wetter winter and spring seasons. Generally, changes in Q and turbidity were small during anticlockwise hysteresis events. Precipitation often influenced figure‐eight patterns, while complex patterns often occurred during summer low flows. Analysis of intermediate Q events can improve process understanding of meso‐scale catchments and possibly aid in choosing appropriate management actions for targeting a specific observed pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forestry is a natural climate solution for removing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and reaching net zero emissions. Managed boreal forests typically have extensive drainage ditch networks, and these can be hotspots of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, potentially offsetting the terrestrial carbon gain. However, there is a lack of data detailing GHG emissions from ditches on mineral soils, where most boreal forestry occurs. Here, we address this knowledge gap using two approaches. First, we conducted a synoptic campaign to measure summer GHG fluxes from 109 boreal forest ditches draining mineral soils within one local region. We found a clear control of ditch water level on methane (CH4), with zero emissions from dry ditches and variable, but often high, emissions from water‐filled ditches. Almost all ditches acted as sources of CO2, regardless of water status. Second, we reanalyzed a published data set of boreal forest ditches and streams across three regions where GHG concentrations had been repeatedly measured and detailed catchment information was available. Within this data set we categorized 76 ditches into mineral and peatland catchments and detected no difference in mean CH4 and CO2 concentrations between the two soil types. GHG emissions from ditches draining mineral forest soils can be as large as those from peatland forest ditches. Using literature values for forest GHG uptake we demonstrate that ditch CH4 emissions are particularly important and can offset the terrestrial CH4 uptake. Ignoring ditch emissions, which are anthropogenic in origin, will lead to incorrect estimates of the landscape‐scale forest GHG budget. Plain Language Summary: Managed boreal forests can remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is hoped that this removal will go some way to counteracting anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, forests often contain networks of human‐constructed drainage ditches which can be hotspots for emissions of methane, a powerful GHG. Most boreal forests are found on mineral soils but there is almost no information concerning the size of forest ditch GHG emissions from these soils. We measured GHGs in a large number of boreal forest ditches and found that emissions were of a similar average size from ditches draining mineral and peat soils. Dry ditches emitted no methane, but water‐filled ditches emitted high amounts. All ditches, dry and wet, emitted carbon dioxide. We show that even though ditches occupy a small proportion of the forest area, their emissions can influence landscape‐scale GHG budgets. Key Points: Emissions of methane and carbon dioxide can be large from forest ditches on both mineral and peat soilsDitches are constructed and therefore these emissions are anthropogenic in origin and should be accounted for in inventoriesDitch methane emissions are particularly important, as they can influence landscape‐scale methane budgets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastic (plastic particles measuring <5mm) pollution is ubiquitous. Unlike in other well‐studied ecosystems, for example, marine and freshwater environments, microplastics in terrestrial systems are relatively understudied. Their potential impacts on terrestrial environments, in particular the risk of causing ecological surprise, must be better understood and quantified. Ecological surprise occurs when ecosystem behavior deviates radically from expectations and generally has negative consequences for ecosystem services. The properties and behavior of microplastics within terrestrial environments may increase their likelihood of causing ecological surprises as they (a) are highly persistent global pollutants that will last for centuries, (b) can interact with the abiotic environment in a complex manner, (c) can impact terrestrial organisms directly or indirectly and (d) interact with other contaminants and can facilitate their transport. Here, we compiled findings of previous research on microplastics in terrestrial environments. We systematically focused on studies addressing different facets of microplastics related to their distribution, dispersion, impact on soil characteristics and functions, levels of biological organization of tested terrestrial biota (single species vs. assemblages), scale of experimental study and corresponding ecotoxicological effects. Our systematic assessment of previous microplastic research revealed that most studies have been conducted on single species under laboratory conditions with short‐term exposures; few studies were conducted under more realistic long‐term field conditions and/or with multi‐species assemblages. Studies targeting multi‐species assemblages primarily considered soil bacterial communities and showed that microplastics can alter essential nutrient cycling functions. More ecologically meaningful studies of terrestrial microplastics encompassing multi‐species assemblages, critical ecological processes (e.g., biogeochemical cycles and pollination) and interactions with other anthropogenic stressors must be conducted. Addressing these knowledge gaps will provide a better understanding of microplastics as emerging global stressors and should lower the risk of ecological surprise in terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural, forestry‐impacted and natural catchments are all vectors of nutrient loading in the Nordic countries. Here, we present concentrations and fluxes of total nitrogen (totN) and phosphorus (totP) from 69 Nordic headwater catchments (Denmark: 12, Finland:18, Norway:17, Sweden:22) between 2000 and 2018. Catchments span the range of Nordic climatic and environmental conditions and include natural sites and sites impacted by agricultural and forest management. Concentrations and fluxes of totN and totP were highest in agricultural catchments, intermediate in forestry‐impacted and lowest in natural catchments, and were positively related %agricultural land cover and summer temperature. Summer temperature may be a proxy for terrestrial productivity, while %agricultural land cover might be a proxy for catchment nutrient inputs. A regional trend analysis showed significant declines in N concentrations and export across agricultural (−15 μg totN L−1 year−1) and natural (−0.4 μg NO3‐N L−1 year−1) catchments, but individual sites displayed few long‐term trends in concentrations (totN: 22%, totP: 25%) or export (totN: 6%, totP: 9%). Forestry‐impacted sites had a significant decline in totP (−0.1 μg P L−1 year−1). A small but significant increase in totP fluxes (+0.4 kg P km−2 year−1) from agricultural catchments was found, and countries showed contrasting patterns. Trends in annual concentrations and fluxes of totP and totN could not be explained in a straightforward way by changes in runoff or climate. Explanations for the totN decline include national mitigation measures in agriculture international policy to reduced air pollution and, possibly, large‐scale increases in forest growth. Mitigation to reduce phosphorus appears to be more challenging than for nitrogen. If the green shift entails intensification of agricultural and forest production, new challenges for protection of water quality will emerge possible exacerbated by climate change. Further analysis of headwater totN and totP export should include seasonal trends, aquatic nutrient species and a focus on catchment nutrient inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streambed and lake sediment was studied in Sävjaån, a eutrophic mesoscale catchment (722 km2) in central Sweden. Triplicate sediment cores from five lakes and nine streams, ranging from headwater to fourth order, were sampled. The sediment was analyzed with a sequential extraction method, where six different phosphorus (P) fractions were measured. The results showed that streambed sediments store considerable amounts of P and in some cases have comparable P contents (g/kg DW) to lake sediment. Land use, soil type, and drainage area (location in the catchment) had a significant effect on the different P fractions found in surficial sediments. Sediment from lakes and forested headwater streams generally had high proportions of organic P and iron bound P. In larger streams located in agricultural areas on clay soils closer to the catchment outlet, with dense sediment and a relatively low proportion of organic matter, P was to a larger extent bound to calcium. Streambed sediment may be an important catchment scale P store and should be considered when modeling catchment P dynamics. The large stores of streambed legacy P should also be considered when performing ditch maintenance to avoid unnecessary mobilization of bioavailable P. Key Points: Comparing 14 sites (lakes and streams) within a catchment, surficial streambed sediments could contain as much phosphorus as lake sedimentLand use, soil type, and upstream area had a significant effect on the distribution of different phosphorus fractions in surficial sedimentsForested streams and lakes had mostly organically bound phosphorus, in higher‐order agricultural streams calcium bound phosphorus dominated [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on ecosystem stability has had a strong focus on local systems. However, environmental change often occurs slowly at broad spatial scales, which requires regional‐level assessments of long‐term stability. In this study, we assess the stability of macroinvertebrate communities across 105 lakes in the Swedish "lakescape." Using a hierarchical mixed‐model approach, we first evaluate the environmental pressures affecting invertebrate communities in two ecoregions (north, south) using a 23 year time series (1995–2017) and then examine how a set of environmental and physical variables affect the stability of these communities. Results show that lake latitude, size, total phosphorus and alkalinity affect community composition in northern and southern lakes. We find that lake stability is affected by species richness and lake size in both ecoregions and alkalinity and total phosphorus in northern lakes. There is large heterogeneity in the patterns of community stability of individual lakes, but relationships between that stability and environmental drivers begin to emerge when the lakescape, composed of many discrete lakes, is the focal unit of study. The results of this study highlight that broad‐scale comparisons in combination with long time series are essential to understand the effects of environmental change on the stability of lake communities in space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globally widespread drainage of peatlands has often been shown to lead to increased concentrations and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in streams and rivers. Elevated DOC concentrations have implications for carbon cycling, ecosystem functioning, and potable water treatment. Peatland rewetting, principally through ditch blocking, is often carried out with the expectation that this will reduce DOC concentrations. Uncertainty still remains as to whether drainage, or its reversal via ditch blocking, will also lead to changes in the molecular composition of DOC/dissolved organic matter (DOM), which have the potential to affect downstream processing and treatability of U.K. drinking water supplies. To investigate this question, we used a replicated experiment consisting of 12 parallel ditches on an upland bog and took samples of ditch water, pore water, and overland flow water for 4 years. After a brief preblocking baseline period, eight ditches were blocked using two methods. A complementary suite of optical metrics, chemical measurements, and analytical techniques revealed that ditch blocking had no consistent effect on DOM quality, up to 4 years after blocking. Where significant differences were found, effect size calculations demonstrated that these differences were small and would therefore have minimal impact upon water treatability. Furthermore, some differences between ditches were evident before blocking took place, highlighting the need for robust baseline monitoring before intervention. Based on our results from a hillslope‐scale experiment, we were unable to identify clear evidence that peatland ditch blocking will deliver benefits in terms of DOM treatability in potable water supplies, although we also did not find any evidence of short‐term deterioration in water quality during the restoration period. We conclude that, although peatland restoration can be expected to deliver other benefits such as reduced carbon loss and enhanced biodiversity, it is doubtful whether it will lead to improvements in drinking water treatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are small lakes passive pipes transporting terrigenous organic carbon (dissolved organic carbon [DOC]), or chimneys for CO2 release in the landscape? Using a unique combination of 30‐yr measurements, sediment dating and modeling of a small humic lake and its catchment in southeast Norway, we calculated lateral DOC fluxes and in‐lake retention. Concentrations and fluxes rose significantly, driven by declining sulfur deposition and increased precipitation. In‐lake retention (% of inputs) declined because of higher discharge and lower residence times. DOC removal rates were not sensitive to residence time. Modeled in‐lake DOC removal was driven primarily by microbial metabolism and, secondarily, by flocculation, suggesting that the likely fate of lake‐retained DOC is CO2 evasion to the atmosphere. Precipitation was the overriding landscape control on DOC fluxes and retention. In a wetter climate, small northern lakes will, on balance, function more as pipes than chimneys, with increasing lateral DOC fluxes but little change in CO2 production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall-runoff models are widely used to predict flows using observed (instrumental) time series of air temperature and precipitation as inputs. Poor model performance is often associated with difficulties in estimating catchment-scale meteorological variables from point observations. Readily available gridded climate products are an underutilized source of temperature and precipitation time series for rainfall-runoff modelling, which may overcome some of the performance issues associated with poor-quality instrumental data in small headwater monitoring catchments. Here we compare the performance of instrumental measured and E-OBS gridded temperature and precipitation time series as inputs in the rainfall-runoff models 'PERSiST' and 'HBV' for flow prediction in six small Swedish catchments. For both models and most catchments, the gridded data produced statistically better simulations than did those obtained using instrumental measurements. Despite the high correspondence between instrumental and gridded temperature, both temperature and precipitation were responsible for the difference. We conclude that (a) gridded climate products such as the E-OBS dataset could be more widely used as alternative input to rainfall-runoff models, even when instrumental measurements are available, and (b) the processing applied to gridded climate products appears to provide a more realistic approximation of small catchment-scale temperature and precipitation patterns needed for flow simulations. Further research on this issue is needed and encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stream water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations display high spatial and temporal variation in boreal catchments. Understanding and predicting these patterns is a challenge with great implications for water quality projections and carbon balance estimates. Although several biogeochemical models have been used to estimate stream water DOC dynamics, model biases common during both rain and snow melt-driven events. The parsimonious DOC-model, K-DOC, with 10 calibrated parameters, uses a nonlinear discharge and catchment water storage relationship including soil temperature dependencies of DOC release and consumption. K-DOC was used to estimate the stream water DOC concentrations over 5 years for eighteen nested boreal catchments having total area of 68 km2 (varying from 0.04 to 67.9 km2). The model successfully simulated DOC concentrations during base flow conditions, as well as, hydrological events in catchments dominated by organic and mineral soils reaching NSEs from 0.46 to 0.76. Our semimechanistic model was parsimonious enough to have all parameters estimated using statistical methods. We did not find any clear differences between forest and mire-dominated catchments that could be explained by soil type or tree species composition. However, parameters controlling slow release and consumption of DOC from soil water behaved differently for small headwater catchments (less than 2 km2) than for those that integrate larger areas of different ecosystem types (10-68 km2). Our results emphasize that it is important to account for nonlinear dependencies of both, soil temperature, and catchment water storage, when simulating DOC dynamics of boreal catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sprawl and regional climate variability are major stresses on surface water resources in many places. The Lake Simcoe watershed (LSW) Ontario, Canada, is no exception. The LSW is predominantly agricultural but is experiencing rapid population growth because of its proximity to the Greater Toronto area. This has led to extensive land use changes that have impacted its water resources and altered run-off patterns in some rivers draining to the lake. Here, we use a paired-catchment approach, hydrological change detection modelling and remote sensing analysis of satellite images to evaluate the impacts of land use change on the hydrology of the LSW (1994 to 2008). Results show that urbanization increased up to 16% in Lovers Creek, the most urban-impacted catchment. Annual run-off from Lovers Creek increased from 239 to 442 mm/year in contrast to the reference catchment (Black River at Washago) where run-off was relatively stable with an annual mean of 474 mm/year. Increased annual run-off from Lovers Creek was not accompanied by an increase in annual precipitation. Discriminant function analysis suggests that early (1992-1997; pre-major development) and late (2004-2009; fully urbanized) periods for Lovers Creek separated mainly based on model parameter sets related to run-off flashiness and evapotranspiration. As a result, parameterization in either period cannot be used interchangeably to produce credible run-off simulations in Lovers Creek because of greater scatter between the parameters in canonical space. Separation of early and late-period parameter sets for the reference catchment was based on climate and snowmelt-related processes. This suggests that regional climatic variability could be influencing hydrologic change in the reference catchment, whereas urbanization amplified the regional natural hydrologic changes in urbanizing catchments of the LSW. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the effects of human activity on the natural environment is dependent on credible estimates of reference conditions to define the state of the environment before the onset of adverse human impacts. In Europe, emission controls that aimed at restoring ecological status were based on hindcasts from process-based models or paleolimnological reconstructions. For instance, 1860 is used in Europe as the target for restoration from acidification concerning biological and chemical parameters. A more practical problem is that the historical states of ecosystems and their function cannot be observed directly. Therefore, we (i) compare estimates of acidification based on long-term observations of roach ( Rutilus rutilus) populations with hindcast pH from the hydrogeochemical model MAGIC; (ii) discuss policy implications and possible scope for use of long-term archival data for assessing human impacts on the natural environment and (iii) present a novel conceptual model for interpreting the importance of physico-chemical and ecological deviations from reference conditions. Of the 85 lakes studied, 78 were coherently classified by both methods. In 1980, 28 lakes were classified as acidified with the MAGIC model, however, roach was present in 14 of these. In 2010, MAGIC predicted chemical recovery in 50% of the lakes, however roach only recolonized in five lakes after 1990, showing a lag between chemical and biological recovery. Our study is the first study of its kind to use long-term archival biological data in concert with hydrogeochemical modeling for regional assessments of anthropogenic acidification. Based on our results, we show how the conceptual model can be used to understand and prioritize management of physico-chemical and ecological effects of anthropogenic stressors on surface water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we use a unique long-term data set on total organic carbon ( TOC) fluxes, its climatic drivers and effects of land management from a large boreal watershed in northern Finland. TOC and runoff have been monitored at several sites in the Simojoki watershed (3160 km2) since the early 1960s. Annual TOC fluxes have increased significantly together with increased inter-annual variability. Acid deposition in the area has been low and has not significantly influenced losses of TOC. Forest management, including ditching and clear felling, had a minor influence on TOC fluxes - seasonal and long-term patterns in TOC were controlled primarily by changes in soil frost, seasonal precipitation, drought, and runoff. Deeper soil frost led to lower spring TOC concentrations in the river. Summer TOC concentrations were positively correlated with precipitation and soil moisture not temperature. There is some indication that drought conditions led to elevated TOC concentrations and fluxes in subsequent years (1998-2000). A sensitivity analysis of the INCA-C model results showed the importance of landscape position, land-use type, and soil temperature as controls of modeled TOC concentrations. Model predictions were not sensitive to forest management. Our results are contradictory to some earlier plot-scale and small catchment studies that have shown more profound forest management impacts on TOC fluxes. This shows the importance of scale when assessing the mechanisms controlling TOC fluxes and concentrations. The results highlight the value of long-term multiple data sets to better understand ecosystem response to land management, climate change and extremes in northern ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in surface water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations have received considerable scientific interest during recent decades. However, intra-annual DOC variability is often orders of magnitude larger than long-term trends. Unraveling the controls on intra-annual DOC dynamics holds the key to a better understanding of long-term changes and their ecological significance. We quantified and characterized intra-annual DOC variability and compared it with long-term DOC trends in 136 streams and rivers, varying in size and geographical characteristics, across a 1400 km latitudinal gradient during 2000-2010. Discharge, temperature, and month of the year were the most significant predictors of intra-annual DOC variability in a majority of the running waters. Relationships between DOC, discharge, and temperature were, however, different along a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient. Running waters with low MAT generally displayed positive DOC-discharge correlations whereas the relationships in sites with higher MAT were more variable. This reflected contrasting relationships between temperature and discharge with discharge positively correlated with temperature in cold areas, while it was negatively correlated with temperature in catchments with higher MAT. Sites where flow, temperature, and month were poorly related to intra-annual DOC dynamics were large catchments or sites with extensive upstream lake cover. DOC trends were generally much smaller than intra-annual DOC variability and did not show any north-south gradient. Our findings suggest that DOC in running waters could respond to a changing climate in ways not predictable, or even discernible, from extrapolation of recent interannual trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal patterns in specific runoff, dissolved organic carbon concentrations [DOC] and fluxes were examined during two periods: 1994-1997 (period 1) and 2007-2009 (period 2) in five adjacent tributary catchments of Lake Simcoe, the largest lake in southern Ontario, Canada. The catchments displayed similar patterns of land use change with increases in urbanization (5-16%) and forest cover (0.2-4%) and declines in agriculture (4-8%) between 1994 and 2008. Climate in the catchments was similar; temperature increased slightly, but no significant change in precipitation was observed. Despite similar pattern of climate and land use, runoff responses and tributary [DOC] were different across the catchments. Following a very dry year (i.e. 1999), runoff increased steadily until the end of record. We observed increased variability in tributary [DOC] and higher DOC exports in period 2. This led to ~10% increase in [DOC] and a 13% increase in flux between the two study periods. Between the two periods, [DOC] increased by 15% in spring and 25% in summer, whereas flux increased by 17% in spring and 48% in summer. [DOC] was consistently higher in the growing (summer + autumn) than the dormant (winter + spring, minus spring melt months) seasons, but no unique pattern or simple linear flow/concentrations relationships existed. This suggests complex spatial and temporal pattern to runoff controls on DOC and flow dynamics in adjacent catchments. We therefore caution against extrapolating from monitored to unmonitored catchments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Krycklan Catchment Study (KCS) provides a unique field infrastructure for hillslope to landscape-scale research on short- and long-term ecosystem dynamics in boreal landscapes. The site is designed for process-based research assessing the role of external drivers including forest management, climate change, and long-range pollutant transport on forests, mires, soils, streams, lakes, and groundwater. The overarching objectives of KCS are to (1) provide a state-of-the-art infrastructure for experimental and hypothesis-driven research, (2) maintain a collection of high-quality, long-term climatic, biogeochemical, hydrological, and environmental data, and (3) support the development of models and guidelines for research, policy, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several major articles from the past decade and beyond conclude the impact of reforestation or afforestation on water yield is negative: additional forest cover will reduce and removing forests will raise downstream water availability. A second group of authors argue the opposite: planting additional forests should raise downstream water availability and intensify the hydrologic cycle. Obtaining supporting evidence for this second group of authors has been more difficult due to the larger scales at which the positive effects of forests on the water cycle may be seen. We argue that forest cover is inextricably linked to precipitation. Forest-driven evapotranspiration removed from a particular catchment contributes to the availability of atmospheric moisture vapor and its cross-continental transport, raising the likelihood of precipitation events and increasing water yield, in particular in continental interiors more distant from oceans. Seasonal relationships heighten the importance of this phenomenon. We review the arguments from different scales and perspectives. This clarifies the generally beneficial relationship between forest cover and the intensity of the hydrologic cycle. While evidence supports both sides of the argument - trees can reduce runoff at the small catchment scale - at larger scales, trees are more clearly linked to increased precipitation and water availability. Progressive deforestation, land conversion from forest to agriculture and urbanization have potentially negative consequences for global precipitation, prompting us to think of forest ecosystems as global public goods. Policy-making attempts to measure product water footprints, estimate the value of ecosystem services, promote afforestation, develop drought mitigation strategies and otherwise manage land use must consider the linkage of forests to the supply of precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discharge is often strongly correlated to the temporal variability of dissolved organic carbon concentrations ([DOC]) in watercourses. One recently proposed way to model this is the riparian flow-concentration integration model (RIM) concept that accounts for the role of flow pathway control on [DOC] dynamics in streams. However, in boreal systems, there is also commonly a seasonal pattern, which cannot be explained by variability in discharge alone. The objectives with this study were to (1) demonstrate RIM as a tool for studying variability in stream water chemistry, (2) investigate factors related to stream water DOC variability, and (3) modify RIM to account for these factors. RIM was used with 14 years of daily discharge and almost 500 stream measurements of [DOC] from a forested boreal headwater stream. We used the calibrated RIM to account for discharge influences and then investigated variables that could be related to DOC variability (air and soil temperature, soil moisture, precipitation, antecedent flow and stream sulfate). Five alternative formulations of RIM, with temporally varying soil concentration profiles based on the variability in soil temperature and/or antecedent flow, were evaluated. The model where only the effects of riparian soil temperature on dynamics in DOC depth profiles were included performed best overall. This dynamic RIM improved the Nash-Sutcliffe to 0.58 compared to 0.42 for the flow-only formulation and reduced the median absolute error from 3.0 to 2.1 mg L−1. This study demonstrates that RIM is a simple way of modeling stream DOC and exploring controls on stream water chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modelling of multivariate riverine water quality time series poses some challenging problems including: weak dependency between observations; nonlinearity; non-Normality; seasonality and missing data. We demonstrate that periodic multivariate Normal hidden Markov models (MNHMMs) are appropriate tools to analyse riverine water quality time series. We introduce a fully Bayesian inference procedure for this class of models, where the number of hidden states of the Markov process is unknown and reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) methods are developed. We present a case study using long-term dissolved inorganic nitrogen time series measured in three Scottish rivers. Our results show the strength of the hidden Markov multistate approach for analysing long-term multivariate riverine water quality time series. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its cyclical planning process, River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) offers a route for adaptive management of a complex human–environment system. Considering how stakeholders speak about climate change provides a lens to examine social learning within RBMP. The paper explores how climate change emerged as a topic during our research and the trajectory of the social learning process. Participants were aware of the challenges that climate change might pose for achieving Good Ecological Status (GES), but as the deadline for the plans drew nearer the focus shifted from long-term issues to the current state of the environment and delivery of objectives. The degree of ‘climate proofing’ in RBMP depends on choices in future planning phases. We reflect on the potential for this to occur, putting our findings into the context of literature on social learning and adaptive management processes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the author of the article regarding the relationship between forest cover and water yield is presented.

We examined spatial patterns of trends in ice phenology and duration for 65 waterbodies across the Great Lakes region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, and New York) during a recent period of rapid climate warming (1975-2004). Average rates of change in freeze (3.3 d decade-1) and breakup (22.1 d decade-1) dates were 5.8 and 3.3 times more rapid, respectively, than historical rates (1846-1995) for Northern Hemisphere waterbodies. Average ice duration decreased by 5.3 d decade-1. Over the same time period, average fall through spring temperatures in this region increased by 0.7°C decade-1, while the average number of days with snow decreased by 5.0 d decade21, and the average snow depth on those days decreased by 1.7 cm decade-1. Breakup date and ice duration trends varied over the study area, with faster changes occurring in the southwest. Trends for each site were compared to static waterbody characteristics and meteorological variables and their trends. The trend toward later freeze date was stronger in large, low-elevation waterbodies; however, freeze date trends had no geographic patterns or relationships to meteorological variables. Variability in the strength of trends toward earlier breakup was partially explained by spatial differences in the rate of change in the number of days with snow cover, mean snow depth, air temperature (warmer locations showed stronger trends), and rate of change in air temperature. Differences in ice duration trends were explained best by a combination of elevation and the local rate of change in either temperature or the number of days with snow cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]