Sediment‐associated organic matter sources and sediment oxygen demand in a Special Area of Conservation (SAC): A case study of the River Axe, UK

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Collins, A. L., Zhang, Y., McMillan, S., Dixon, E. R., Stringfellow, A., Bateman, S. and Sear, D. A. 2017. Sediment‐associated organic matter sources and sediment oxygen demand in a Special Area of Conservation (SAC): A case study of the River Axe, UK. River Research and Applications. 33 (10), pp. 1539-1552. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3175

AuthorsCollins, A. L., Zhang, Y., McMillan, S., Dixon, E. R., Stringfellow, A., Bateman, S. and Sear, D. A.
Abstract

Oxygen demand in river substrates providing important habitats for the early life stages of aquatic ecology, including lithophilous fish, can arise due to the oxidation of sediment‐associated organic matter. Oxygen depletion associated with this component of river biogeochemical cycling, will, in part, depend on the sources of such material. A reconnaissance survey was therefore undertaken to assess the relative contributions from bed sediment‐associated organic matter sources potentially impacting on the River Axe Special Area of Conservation (SAC), in SW England. Source fingerprinting, including Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis, suggested that the relative frequency‐weighted average median source contributions ranged between 19% (uncertainty range 0–82%) and 64% (uncertainty range 0–99%) for farmyard manures or slurries, 4% (uncertainty range 0–49%) and 35% (uncertainty range 0–100%) for damaged road verges, 2% (uncertainty range 0–100%) and 68% (uncertainty range 0–100%) for decaying instream vegetation, and 2% (full uncertainty range 0–15%) and 6% (uncertainty range 0–48%) for human septic waste. A reconnaissance survey of sediment oxygen demand (SOD) along the channel designated as a SAC yielded a mean SOD5 of 4 mg O2 g−1 dry sediment and a corresponding SOD20 of 7 mg O2 g−1 dry sediment, compared with respective ranges of 1–15 and 2–30 mg O2 g−1 dry sediment, measured by the authors for a range of river types across the UK. The findings of the reconnaissance survey were used in an agency (SW region) catchment appraisal exercise for informing targeted management to help protect the SAC.

Keywordsfingerprinting; sediment‐associated organic matter; sediment oxygen demand; uncertainty
Year of Publication2017
JournalRiver Research and Applications
Journal citation33 (10), pp. 1539-1552
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3175
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Natural England
Funder project or codeImpacts of different vegetation in riparian buffer strips on hydrology and water quality
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online29 Jun 2017
Publication process dates
Accepted25 May 2017
PublisherWiley-Blackwell
Wiley
Copyright licenseCC BY
ISSN1535-1459

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