Generality of Hydrologic Transport Limitation of Watershed Organic Carbon Flux Across Ecoregions of the United States

Abstract

Although the flux of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) through freshwaters is nearly equivalent to the net carbon uptake of all terrestrial ecosystems, uncertainty remains about how source processes (carbon production and location) and transport processes (hydrologic connectivity and routing) interact to determine DOC flux across flow conditions and ecoregions. This limits our ability to predict the fluvial carbon flux responses to changes in climate and land use. We used DOC concentration and discharge patterns with ensemble modeling techniques to quantify DOC flux behavior for 1,006 U.S. watersheds spanning diverse climate and land cover conditions. We found that DOC flux was transport-limited (concentration increased with discharge) in 80% of watersheds and that this flux behavior spanned ecoregions and watershed sizes. The generality of transport limitation demonstrates how coupling discharge models with widely available watershed properties could allow DOC flux to be efficiently integrated into landscape and Earth system models.