When resources are spatially and temporally variable, consumers can increase their foraging success by moving to track ephemeral feeding opportunities as these shift across the landscape; the best examples derive from herbivoreplant systems, where grazers migrate to capitalize on the seasonal waves of vegetation growth. We evaluated whether analogous processes occur in watersheds supporting spawning sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), asking whether seasonal activities of predators and scavengers shift spatial distributions to capitalize on asynchronous spawning among populations of salmon. Both glaucous-winged gulls and coastal brown bears showed distinct shifts in their spatial distributions over the course of the summer, reflecting the shifting distribution of spawning sockeye salmon, which was associated with variation in water temperature among spawning sites. By tracking the spatial and temporal variation in the phenology of their principal prey, consumers substantially extended their foraging opportunity on a superabundant, yet locally ephemeral, resource. Ecosystem-based fishery management efforts that seek to balance trade-offs between fisheries and ecosystem processes supported by salmon should, therefore, assess the importance of life-history variation, particularly in phenological traits, for maintaining important ecosystem functions, such as providing marine-derived resources for terrestrial predators and scavengers.

Sediments from Cheboygan Marsh, a coastal freshwater wetland on Lake Huron that has been invaded by an emergent exotic plant, Typhaxglauca, were examined to assess the effects of invasion on wetland nutrient levels and sediment microbial communities. Comparison of invaded and uninvaded zones of the marsh indicated that the invaded zone showed significantly lower plant diversity, as well as significantly higher aboveground plant biomass and soil organic matter. The sediments in the invaded zone also showed dramatically higher concentrations of soluble nutrients, including greater than 10-fold higher soluble ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate, which suggests that Typhaxglauca invasion may be impacting the wetland's ability to remove nutrients. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses revealed significant differences in the composition of total bacterial communities (based on 16S-rRNA genes) and denitrifier communities (based on nirS genes) between invaded and uninvaded zones. This shift in denitrifiers in the sediments may be ecologically significant due to the critical role that denitrifying bacteria play in removal of nitrogen by wetlands.

Agricultural impacts on aquatic ecosystems are well studied; however, most research has focused on temperate regions, whereas the forefront of agricultural expansion is currently in the tropics. At the vanguard of this growth is the boundary between the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in Brazil, driven primarily by expansion of soybean and corn croplands. Here we examine the impacts of cropland expansion on receiving lowland Amazon Basin headwater streams in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition via ultrahigh‐resolution mass spectrometry. Streams draining croplands had lower DOC concentrations and DOM molecular signatures enriched in N‐ and S‐containing formula in comparison to forested streams. Cropland streams were also enriched in aliphatic, peptide‐like, and highly unsaturated and phenolic (low O/C) compound categories in comparison to forest streams (enriched in polyphenolics, condensed aromatics, and highly unsaturated and phenolic [high O/C] compound categories) indicative of the shifting of sources from organic‐rich surface soils and litter layers to autochthonous and more microbial biomass. Distinct molecular assemblages were strongly correlated with cropland and forest catchments, highlighting headwater streams as sentinels for detecting change. On investigation of unique molecular formulae present in only cropland sites, four cropland markers provided the ability to track agricultural impacts in the region. Overall, these patterns indicate reduced organic matter inputs in croplands and greater microbial degradation at these sites leading to declining DOC concentrations, and DOM of more microbial character in receiving streams that is more biolabile, with clear ramifications for downstream ecology and biogeochemical cycles.

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Abstract. Aquatic ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle and represent substantial source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. However, little attention has been paid to quantifying how aquatic community respiration (CR), a major source of CO 2 , will respond to warming temperatures expected under climate change, and whether landscape features affect temperature modulation of CR. We quantified how temperature sensitivity of CR varied among streams in southwestern Alaska, a region with one of the fastest warming trends globally. We incubated sediments from streams spanning a geomorphic gradient and estimated the degree to which CR responded to increased water temperature as described by Arrhenius kinetics. As expected, CR increased with temperature across all streams, and the average temperature sensitivity was similar to theoretical predictions for heterotrophic metabolism. However, temperature sensitivity was significantly higher in streams with higher quantity but lower quality organic C substrates, conditions that were strongly associated with watershed geomorphic characteristics. These results suggest that basic geomorphic features of landscapes will control the rates at which C is lost or sequestered from watersheds under new climate regimes.

Agricultural intensification offers potential to grow more food while reducing the conversion of native ecosystems to croplands. However, intensification also risks environmental degradation through emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrate leaching to ground and surface waters. Intensively-managed croplands and nitrogen (N) fertilizer use are expanding rapidly in tropical regions. We quantified fertilizer responses of maize yield, N2O emissions, and N leaching in an Amazon soybean-maize double-cropping system on deep, highly-weathered soils in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Application of N fertilizer above 80 kg N ha−1 yr−1 increased maize yield and N2O emissions only slightly. Unlike experiences in temperate regions, leached nitrate accumulated in deep soils with increased fertilizer and conversion to cropping at N fertilization rates >80 kg N ha−1, which exceeded maize demand. This raises new questions about the capacity of tropical agricultural soils to store nitrogen, which may determine when and how much nitrogen impacts surface waters.

Ice cover plays a critical role in physical, biogeochemical, and ecological processes in lakes. Despite its importance, winter limnology remains relatively understudied. Here, we provide a primer on the predominant drivers of freshwater lake ice cover and the current methodologies used to study lake ice, including in situ and remote sensing observations, physical based models, and experiments. We highlight opportunities for future research by integrating these four disciplines to address key knowledge gaps in our understanding of lake ice dynamics in changing winters. Advances in technology, data integration, and interdisciplinary collaboration will allow the field to move toward developing global forecasts of lake ice cover for small to large lakes across broad spatial and temporal scales, quantifying ice quality and ice thickness, moving from binary to continuous ice records, and determining how winter ice conditions and quality impact ecosystem processes in lakes over winter. Ultimately, integrating disciplines will improve our ability to understand the impacts of changing winters on lake ice.

Intensive cropland agriculture commonly increases streamwater solute concentrations and export from small watersheds. In recent decades, the lowland tropics have become the world's largest and most important region of cropland expansion. Although the effects of intensive cropland agriculture on streamwater chemistry and watershed export have been widely studied in temperate regions, their effects in tropical regions are poorly understood. We sampled seven headwater streams draining watersheds in forest (n = 3) or soybeans (n = 4) to examine the effects of soybean cropping on stream solute concentrations and watershed export in a region of rapid soybean expansion in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. We measured stream flows and concentrations of NO , PO , SO , Cl , NH , Ca , Mg , Na , K , Al , Fe , and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) biweekly to monthly to determine solute export. We also measured stormflows and stormflow solute concentrations in a subset of watersheds (two forest, two soybean) during two/three storms, and solutes and δ O in groundwater, rainwater, and throughfall to characterize watershed flowpaths. Concentrations of all solutes except K varied seasonally in streamwater, but only Fe concentrations differed between land uses. The highest streamwater and rainwater solute concentrations occurred during the peak season of wildfires in Mato Grosso, suggesting that regional changes in atmospheric composition and deposition influence seasonal stream solute concentrations. Despite no concentration differences between forest and soybean land uses, annual export of NH , PO , Ca , Fe , Na , SO , DOC, and TSS were significantly higher from soybean than forest watersheds (5.6-fold mean increase). This increase largely reflected a 4.3-fold increase in water export from soybean watersheds. Despite this increase, total solute export per unit watershed area (i.e., yield) remained low for all watersheds (<1 kg NO N·ha ·yr , <2.1 kg NH -N·ha ·yr , <0.2 kg PO -P·ha ·yr , <1.5 kg Ca ·ha ·yr ). Responses of both streamflows and solute concentrations to crop agriculture appear to be controlled by high soil hydraulic conductivity, groundwater-dominated hydrologic flowpaths on deep soils, and the absence of nitrogen fertilization. To date, these factors have buffered streams from the large increases in solute concentrations that often accompany intensive croplands in other locations.