Abstract. As sediment loads impact freshwater systems and infrastructure, their origin in complex landscape systems is of crucial importance for sustainable management of agricultural catchments. We differentiated the sediment source contribution to a lowland river in central Switzerland by using compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA). We found a clear distinction of sediment sources originating from forest and agricultural land use. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the uncertainty of sediment source attribution in: (i) using compound content (in our case, long-chain fatty acids; FAs) rather than soil organic matter content to transfer δ13C signal of FAs to soil contribution and (ii) restricting the investigation to the long-chain FAs (> C22 : 0) not to introduce errors due to aquatic contributions from algae and microorganisms. Results showed unambiguously that during base flow, agricultural land contributed up to 65 % of the suspended sediments, while forest was the dominant sediment source during high flow. This indicates that connectivity of sediment source areas within the river changes between base and high flow conditions. Uncertainty, which might occur in complex, large-scale studies due to undetected source attribution and/or CSSI signature degradation, is low because of limited data complexity in our study (i.e., two–three sources and two tracers). Our findings are the first published results highlighting (i) significant differences in compound-specific stable isotope (CSSI) signature of sediment sources from land uses dominated by C3 plant cultivation and (ii) the use of these differences to quantify sediment contribution to a small river.

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Abstract. Empirical measurements on fine sediment dynamics and fine sediment infiltration and accumulation have been conducted worldwide, but it is difficult to compare the results because the applied methods differ widely. We compared common methods to capture temporal and spatial dynamics of suspended sediment (SS), fine sediment infiltration and accumulation and tested them for their suitability in a small, canalized river of the Swiss Plateau. Measurement suitability was assessed by data comparison, relation to hydrological data and in the context of previously published data. SS concentration and load were assessed by optical backscatter (OBS) sensors and SS samplers. The former exhibit a better temporal resolution, but were associated with calibration problems. Due to the relatively low cost and easy mounting of SS samplers, they can provide a higher spatial distribution in the river's cross section. The latter resulted in a better correlation between sediment infiltration and SS load assessed by SS samplers than SS concentrations measured with OBS sensors. Sediment infiltration baskets and bedload traps capture the temporal and spatial distribution of fine sediment infiltration. Data obtained by both methods were positively correlated with water level and SS. In contrast, accumulation baskets do not assess the temporal behaviour of fine sediment, but the net accumulation over a certain time period. Less fine sediment accumulated in upwelling zones and within areas of higher mean water level due to scouring of fine sediments. Even though SS and sediment infiltration assessed with the bedload traps increased from up-to downstream, less fine sediment accumulated downstream. This is probably also attributable to more scouring downstream.

Empirical measurements on fine sediment dynamics, infiltration and accumulation have been conducted worldwide, but it is difficult to compare the results because the applied methods differ widely. We compared established methods to capture temporal and spatial dynamics of suspended sediment (SS), fine sediment infiltration and accumulation and tested them for their suitability in small, canalized rivers of the Swiss Plateau. Suitability was assessed by data comparison, relation to hydrological data and in the context of previously published data. SS were assessed by optical backscatter (OBS) sensors and SS samplers. The former exhibit a better temporal resolution but were associated with calibration problems. Due to the relatively low cost and easy mounting of SS samplers, they can provide a higher spatial distribution in the cross section. This results in a better correlation between sediment infiltration and SS assessed by SS samplers than with OBS sensors. Sediment infiltration baskets and bedload traps were able to resolve the temporal and spatial distribution of fine sediment infiltration. Data obtained by both methods were positively correlated with water level and SS. In contrast, accumulation baskets can not assess the temporal behavior of fine sediment but the accumulation over a certain time period. Results indicate that less fine sediment accumulated in upwelling zones and within areas of higher mean water level due to scouring of fine sediment. Even though there was an increase of SS and sediment assessed with the bedload traps from up- to downstream, less fine sediment accumulated downstream. This is probably also due to more scouring downstream

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Abstract. Suspended sediment (SS) and organic matter in rivers can harm brown trout Salmo trutta by affecting the health and fitness of free swimming fish and by causing siltation of the riverbed. The temporal and spatial dynamics of sediment, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) during the brown trout spawning season in a small river of the Swiss Plateau were assessed and C isotopes as well as the C/N atomic ratio were used to distinguish autochthonous and allochthonous sources of organic matter in SS loads. The visual basic program IsoSource with 13 C tot and 15 N as input isotopes was used to quantify the temporal and spatial sources of SS. Organic matter concentrations in the infiltrated and suspended sediment were highest during low flow periods with small sediment loads and lowest during high flow periods with high sediment loads. Peak values in nitrate and dissolved organic C were measured during high flow and high rainfall, probably due to leaching from pasture and arable land. The organic matter was of allochthonous sources as indicated by the C/N atomic ratio and δ 13 C org . Organic matter in SS increased from up-to downstream due to an increase of pasture and arable land downstream of the river. The mean fraction of SS originating from upper watershed riverbed sediment decreased from up to downstream and increased during high flow at all measuring sites along the course of the river. During base flow conditions, the major sources of SS are pasture, forest and arable land. The latter increased during rainy and warmer winter periods, most likely because both triggered snow melt and thus erosion. The measured increase in DOC and nitrate concentrations during high flow support these modeling results. Enhanced soil erosion processes on pasture and arable land are expected with increasing heavy rain events and less snow during winter seasons due to climate change. Consequently, SS and organic matter in the river will increase, which will possibly affect brown trout negatively.

Summary Understanding the factors that determine successful salmonid embryo incubation in the many structurally modified river systems of the Northern Hemisphere is crucial for maintaining healthy salmonid populations. In this context, the joint impact of fine sediment accumulation together with anthropogenic river modifications on salmonid embryo survival has been rarely investigated. We investigated brown trout embryo survival to hatch (STH) together with ten physicochemical, hydraulic and morphological parameters in artificial brown trout redds in a heavily modified stream (i.e. channelized, artificial log steps) in central Switzerland. We were interested to understand whether (i) STH is more sensitive to the timing and duration of low oxygen rather than a mean oxygen concentration, (ii) STH was negatively affected by increased fine sediment deposition decreasing redd gravel permeability, (iii) higher water levels, causing fine sediment resuspension, benefit STH, (iv) STH was negatively affected by organic content in the redds and especially (v) hydraulic gradients related to redd scale bed‐form and/or the artificial step structure benefit embryo STH, and hence could mitigate the negative impact of fine sediment and/or organic content. Up to 50%, brown trout embryos survived with interstitial oxygen exceeding 3 mg L−1. Embryos endured up to 6 days ≤ 1 mg L−1 but were more sensitive to oxygen depletion close to hatch. Therefore, timing and duration of low oxygen were important for embryo STH, and hence, oxygen dynamics need to be considered when assessing in redd conditions for salmonid STH. Partial least squares regression identified the horizontal hydraulic gradient, Fredle index, distance to artificial log steps upstream and amount of accumulated fine sediment as influential predictors for embryo STH. The water level above the redd and total organic carbon content in the redd were not influential. Among the identified influential predictors, 70.9% of the variation in STH could be explained by a logistic regression model containing redd distance to the next upstream step (26.4%, P = 0.004), Fredle index (27.2%, P = 0.003) and horizontal hydraulic gradient (10.1%, P = 0.04). In the logistic regression, the amount of accumulated fine sediment (P = 0.75), field seasons (P = 0.93) and field sites (P = 0.66) was non‐significant. In summary, brown trout STH was sensitive to redd gravel permeability, which was measured as Fredle index and affected by fine sediment deposition. At the same time, hydraulic gradients related to artificial log steps, which enhanced hyporheic exchange, benefited embryo STH, and hence mitigated fine sediment impact. This result can be probably transferred to other surface water‐dominated river systems with good hyporheic water quality. To what extent it can be transferred to river systems with other hydraulic boundary conditions remains to be evaluated. Altogether, our results clearly indicate that the impact of fine sediment on salmonid incubation success needs to be understood in the h...