Abstract

AbstractStream–riparian ecosystems are landscapes composed of dynamic interacting terrestrial and aquatic patches. Patch composition and configuration affects both the form of transported materials and the amount of nutrient retention and export. We describe spatial patterns of nutrients in the surface water of an arid-land stream using surveys conducted at 3 different scales, ranging from 30 m to 10 km in extent and from 1 m to 25 m in grain. We then relate these patterns to connections with subsurface patches at channel subunit, channel unit, and reach scales. Our objectives were to compare spatial variation in nutrients across scales, to determine the causes of downstream changes in nutrient concentration in terms of intervening patches, and to investigate whether subsurface patches at different scales behaved similarly in terms of net nutrient processing.Nutrients varied spatially at all scales sampled. The highest variation was observed in nitrate-N (NO3-N) in the survey with the smallest grain (CV =...

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