Academic Journal
Spring Water pH in Forest Catchments Is Modified through Fluctuating Discharge under Climate Change
| العنوان: | Spring Water pH in Forest Catchments Is Modified through Fluctuating Discharge under Climate Change |
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| المؤلفون: | Carl Beierkuhnlein, Bojan Djordjevic, Johannes Höger, Vincent Wilkens, Samip Narayan Shrestha, Timothy Smith, Frank Weiser |
| المصدر: | Hydrobiology, Vol 3, Iss 4, Pp 325-336 (2024) |
| بيانات النشر: | MDPI AG, 2024. |
| سنة النشر: | 2024 |
| المجموعة: | LCC:Ecology LCC:Chemical technology |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | acid rain, drought, helocrene springs, catchment acidification, climate change, Frankenwald, Ecology, QH540-549.5, Chemical technology, TP1-1185 |
| الوصف: | Over the course of industrialization in the 20th century, vast emissions of air pollutants have occurred. The exhaust gasses contain sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which are converted to sulfuric acid and nitric acid in the atmosphere. This causes acid rain to enter aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, the most serious consequence of which is large-scale forest dieback across Europe and North America. However, through various political measures, the exhaust gasses have been reduced and, thus, acid rain and forest dieback were stopped. Nevertheless, the lingering effects of this pollution are still present today and are reflected in hydrochemistry. More recently, fluctuating precipitation regimes are causing additional stress to ecosystems in Central Europe. Climatic extremes are becoming more pronounced with climate change. Substantial differences between drought years and years with regular precipitation are directly altering the discharge of springs. Now, two overlapping and interacting syndromes of environmental pressures can be studied in these small catchments at a landscape scale: (1) acidification and (2) climate change. In this long-term study, the waters of 102 forest springs, located in two neighboring forest landscapes in north-eastern Bavaria, Germany (Frankenwald and Fichtelgebirge), were investigated over 24 years (1996 to 2020). By linking changes in pH values with changes in precipitation and spring discharge, we found that pH increases with decreasing discharge and decreasing precipitation. This effect was strongest in the Frankenwald compared to the Fichtelgebirge. We hypothesize that this temporal pattern reflects the longer residence time and, in consequence, the increased buffering of acidic interflow in small catchments during periods of drought. However, this should not be misinterpreted as rapid recovery from acidification because this effect fades in times of enhanced precipitation. We recommend that fluctuations in weather regimes be considered when investigating biogeochemical patterns throughout forest landscapes. |
| نوع الوثيقة: | article |
| وصف الملف: | electronic resource |
| اللغة: | English |
| تدمد: | 2673-9917 |
| Relation: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-9917/3/4/20; https://doaj.org/toc/2673-9917 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/hydrobiology3040020 |
| URL الوصول: | https://doaj.org/article/55507f863b2a434397d4e3bdaf59e59b |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsdoj.55507f863b2a434397d4e3bdaf59e59b |
| قاعدة البيانات: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
| تدمد: | 26739917 |
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| DOI: | 10.3390/hydrobiology3040020 |