Soil carbon dynamics and aquatic metabolism of a wet–dry tropics wetland system

Freshwater wetlands are a key component of the global carbon cycle. Wet–dry tropics wetlands function as wet-season carbon sinks and dry-season carbon sources with low aquatic metabolism controlled by predictably seasonal, yet magnitude-variable flow regimes and inundation patterns. However, these dynamics have not been adequately quantified in Australia’s relatively unmodified wet–dry tropics freshwater wetlands. A baseline understanding is required before analysis of land-use or climate change impacts on these aquatic ecosystems can occur. This study characterises geomorphology and sedimentology within a seasonally connected wet–dry tropics freshwater wetland system at Kings Plains, Queensland, Australia, and quantifies soil carbon stocks and wet- and dry-season aquatic metabolism. Soil carbon stocks derived from loss-on-ignition on samples to 1 m depth were 51.5?±?7.8 kg C m^?2, higher than other wet–dry tropics wetlands globally, with potential for long-term retention at greater depths. Gross primary productivity of phytoplankton (GPP) and planktonic respiration (PR) measured through biological oxygen demand bottle experiments in the water column of sediment inundated under laboratory conditions show overall low GPP and PR in both wet- and dry-season samples (all wetland samples were heterotrophic with GPP/PR?<?1). Despite the short-term dominance of aquatic respiration processes leading to net release of carbon in the water column under these conditions, there is appreciable long-term storage of carbon in sediment in the Kings Plains wetlands. This demonstrates the importance of wet–dry-tropics wetland systems as hotspots of carbon sequestration, locally, regionally and globally, and consideration should be given to their conservation and management in this context.

     

How seed traits predict floating times: a biophysical process model for hydrochorous seed transport behaviour in fluvial systems

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Heterogeneous flows foster heterogeneous assemblages: relationships between functional diversity and hydrological heterogeneity in riparian plant communities

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Digging deep for diversity: riparian seed bank abundance and species richness in relation to burial depth

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How Does Restoration of Native Canopy Affect Understory Vegetation Composition? Evidence from Riparian Communities of the Hunter Valley Australia

Restoration of native vegetation often focuses on the canopy layer species, with the assumption that regeneration of the understory elements will occur as a consequence. The goal of this study was to assess the influence of canopy restoration on the composition and abundance of understory plant species assemblages along riparian margins in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia. We compared the floristic composition (richness, abundance, and diversity) of understory species between nonrevegetated (open) and canopy revegetated plots across five sites. A number of other factors that may also influence understory vegetation, including soil nutrients, proximity to main channel, and light availability, were also measured. We found that sites where the canopy had been restored had lower exotic species richness and abundance, as well as higher native species cover, but not native species richness, compared with open sites. Multivariate analysis of plots based on plant community composition showed that revegetated sites were associated with lower total species diversity, light availability, and exotic cover. This study has found that the restoration of the canopy layer does result in lower exotic species richness and cover, and higher native species cover and diversity in the understory, a desirable restoration outcome. Our results provide evidence that restoration of native canopy species may facilitate restoration of native understory species; however, other interventions to increase native species richness of the understory should also be considered as part of management practice.     

Post-European changes to the fluvial geomorphology of Bega catchment, Australia: implications for river ecology

1. Within a few decades of European disturbance in the mid-nineteenth century, river character and behaviour were transformed in Bega catchment on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Ecological impacts of geomorphic changes to river structure and function throughout the catchment are assessed. 2. At the time of European settlement, many water courses in Bega catchment were discontinuous, with extensive swamps along middle and upper courses. Following a series of direct and indirect human impacts, channels became continuous in the middle and upper parts of the catchment, as extensive valley fills at the base of the escarpment were incised. Along the lowland plain, the channel widened by over 300%, fundamentally altering the relationship between the channel and its adjacent floodplain. 3. Geomorphic changes to river structure have modified habitat availability throughout Bega catchment. The impacts have been least pronounced in headwater streams, but have been dramatic along virtually all river courses beyond the base of the escarpment. 4. Changes in river structure have been directly related to altered riparian vegetation cover, and vice versa. As a consequence of changes to river structure, bed substrate calibre (and supply volume/rate) has been modified along most streams. 5. A series of indirect, secondary impacts have modified habitat viability along river courses. Lateral, longitudinal and vertical linkages within the river system have been altered, affecting the transfer of water, sediment, organic matter, nutrients and other biotic interactions. 6. These direct and indirect consequences of geomorphic changes in river structure suggest that ecologists need to adopt a longer-term, catchment-framed view of human disturbance to river ecosystems. 7. Effective, sustainable ecological rehabilitation of river courses is dependent on an understanding of geomorphic processes and determination of appropriate river structure at differing positions in catchments.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic separation and nanogram quantitation of bupivacaine enantiomers in blood

Chiral separation of rac-bupivacaine extracted from blood was achieved with similar limits of detection but using a much simpler sample preparation than reported previously. The simple one-step sample preparation devised was highly robust and efficient and allowed a very high throughput of samples. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) conditions used gave baseline separation of the enantiomers with high sensitivity. R-(+)-bupivacaine and S-(−)-bupivacaine blood concentrations were determined using a chiral stationary phase (AGP, ChromTech) with diode array detection at 220 nm; this wavelength produced a stable baseline allowing semi-automated analysis. Sample preparation involved addition of internal standard (diphenhydramine), basification of blood, extraction with n-hexane, concentration of the extract to dryness and reconstitution in 0.002 M phosphoric acid. At rac-bupivacaine concentrations of 0.5, 5 and 50 μg/ml in blood, assay accuracy as estimated by coefficients of variation (C.V.s), were 3.3, 1.4, and 1.6%, respectively, for R-(+)-bupivacaine and 3.7, 2.0 and 1.5%, respectively, for S-(−)-bupivacaine. Using 0.6-ml samples, the estimated limits of detection for R-(+)-bupivacaine and S-(−)-bupivacaine were both 15 ng/ml of blood. Calibration curves (n=188) were linear from 0.1 to 50 μg/ml with all correlation coefficients being greater than 0.99. This semi-automated method was applied to studies involving whole body pharmacokinetics with intravenous doses ranging from 12.5 to 350 mg and regional myocardial pharmacokinetics with coronary arterial doses ranging from 2.5 to 12.5 mg. These studies generated approximately 12 000 blood samples.     

The Blurred Line between Form and Process: A Comparison of Stream Channel Classification Frameworks

Stream classification provides a means to understand the diversity and distribution of channels and floodplains that occur across a landscape while identifying links between geomorphic form and process. Accordingly, stream classification is frequently employed as a watershed planning, management, and restoration tool. At the same time, there has been intense debate and criticism of particular frameworks, on the grounds that these frameworks classify stream reaches based largely on their physical form, rather than direct measurements of their component hydrogeomorphic processes. Despite this debate surrounding stream classifications, and their ongoing use in watershed management, direct comparisons of channel classification frameworks are rare. Here we implement four stream classification frameworks and explore the degree to which each make inferences about hydrogeomorphic process from channel form within the Middle Fork John Day Basin, a watershed of high conservation interest within the Columbia River Basin, U.S.A. We compare the results of the River Styles Framework, Natural Channel Classification, Rosgen Classification System, and a channel form-based statistical classification at 33 field-monitored sites. We found that the four frameworks consistently classified reach types into similar groups based on each reach or segment’s dominant hydrogeomorphic elements. Where classified channel types diverged, differences could be attributed to the (a) spatial scale of input data used, (b) the requisite metrics and their order in completing a framework’s decision tree and/or, (c) whether the framework attempts to classify current or historic channel form. Divergence in framework agreement was also observed at reaches where channel planform was decoupled from valley setting. Overall, the relative agreement between frameworks indicates that criticism of individual classifications for their use of form in grouping stream channels may be overstated. These form-based criticisms may also ignore the geomorphic tenet that channel form reflects formative hydrogeomorphic processes across a given landscape.