The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating spawning gravels during the incubation and emergence life stages of salmonids

Sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating spawning gravels during the incubation and emergence life stages of salmonids
Sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating spawning gravels during the incubation and emergence life stages of salmonids
The biodegradation of organic matter ingressing spawning gravels in rivers exerts an oxygen demand which is believed to contribute to detrimental impacts on aquatic ecology including salmonids. Catchment management strategies therefore require reliable information on the key sources of sediment-bound organic matter. Accordingly, a novel source fingerprinting procedure based on analyses of bulk stable 13C and 15N isotope values and organic molecular structures detected using near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy was tested for assessing the primary sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating artificial Atlantic salmon spawning redds in five rivers across England and Wales. Statistically-verified source fingerprints were identified using a combination of the Kruskal–Wallis H-test, principal component analysis and GA-driven discriminant function analysis. Interstitial sediment samples were obtained from artificial redds using retrievable basket traps inserted at the start of the salmonid spawning season and extracted subsequently in conjunction with critical juvenile phases (eyeing, hatch, emergence, late spawning) of fish development associated with incubation and emergence. Over the duration of these four basket extractions, the overall relative frequency-weighted average median source contributions to the interstitial sediment-bound organic matter sampled in the study rivers ranged between 26% (full uncertainty range 0–100%) and 44% (full uncertainty range 0–100%) for farm yard manures/slurries, 11% (full uncertainty range 0–75%) and 48% (full uncertainty range 0–99%) for damaged road verges, 16% (full uncertainty range (0–78%) and 52% (full uncertainty range (0–100%) for decaying instream vegetation and 4% (full uncertainty range 0–31%) and 10% (full uncertainty range (0–44%) for human septic waste. The results of mass conservation tests suggest that the procedure combining bulk 13C and 15N isotope values and NIR spectroscopy data on organic molecular structures is sensitive to the risks of significant non-conservative tracer behaviour in the fluvial environment and will therefore not necessarily work at all in-channel sites in all catchments.
sediment-bound organic matter, sources, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy, salmonids, farm manures
0167-8809
76-93
Collins, A.L.
eb72a479-2336-4268-a837-79d926239de3
Williams, L.J.
0ef5d6b0-9ba9-474d-96f5-889ba59ae9b0
Zhang, Y.S.
34c17a9a-9b9d-46df-8bb8-b42d95bf15b8
Dungait, J.A.J.
1f5635ef-ca0c-483f-8702-6553661858c4
Smallman, David J
b619a7d9-6214-407f-9e95-67b0c4bc7278
Marius, M.
4aedacc2-55b7-40c9-bbe4-3934f0605142
Dixon, E.R.
f76ac6c0-f95a-458e-8e64-43783d283ee9
Stringfellow, A.
024efba8-7ffc-441e-a268-be43240990a9
Sear, D.A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Jones, J.I.
9acb09cb-4a0d-4fcd-99cc-9bf198d9d564
Naden, P.S.
94009f2b-9d27-4341-9fdd-daffc281d76d
Collins, A.L.
eb72a479-2336-4268-a837-79d926239de3
Williams, L.J.
0ef5d6b0-9ba9-474d-96f5-889ba59ae9b0
Zhang, Y.S.
34c17a9a-9b9d-46df-8bb8-b42d95bf15b8
Dungait, J.A.J.
1f5635ef-ca0c-483f-8702-6553661858c4
Smallman, David J
b619a7d9-6214-407f-9e95-67b0c4bc7278
Marius, M.
4aedacc2-55b7-40c9-bbe4-3934f0605142
Dixon, E.R.
f76ac6c0-f95a-458e-8e64-43783d283ee9
Stringfellow, A.
024efba8-7ffc-441e-a268-be43240990a9
Sear, D.A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Jones, J.I.
9acb09cb-4a0d-4fcd-99cc-9bf198d9d564
Naden, P.S.
94009f2b-9d27-4341-9fdd-daffc281d76d

Collins, A.L., Williams, L.J., Zhang, Y.S., Dungait, J.A.J., Smallman, David J, Marius, M., Dixon, E.R., Stringfellow, A., Sear, D.A., Jones, J.I. and Naden, P.S. (2014) Sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating spawning gravels during the incubation and emergence life stages of salmonids. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 196, 76-93. (doi:10.1016/j.agee.2014.06.018).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The biodegradation of organic matter ingressing spawning gravels in rivers exerts an oxygen demand which is believed to contribute to detrimental impacts on aquatic ecology including salmonids. Catchment management strategies therefore require reliable information on the key sources of sediment-bound organic matter. Accordingly, a novel source fingerprinting procedure based on analyses of bulk stable 13C and 15N isotope values and organic molecular structures detected using near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy was tested for assessing the primary sources of sediment-bound organic matter infiltrating artificial Atlantic salmon spawning redds in five rivers across England and Wales. Statistically-verified source fingerprints were identified using a combination of the Kruskal–Wallis H-test, principal component analysis and GA-driven discriminant function analysis. Interstitial sediment samples were obtained from artificial redds using retrievable basket traps inserted at the start of the salmonid spawning season and extracted subsequently in conjunction with critical juvenile phases (eyeing, hatch, emergence, late spawning) of fish development associated with incubation and emergence. Over the duration of these four basket extractions, the overall relative frequency-weighted average median source contributions to the interstitial sediment-bound organic matter sampled in the study rivers ranged between 26% (full uncertainty range 0–100%) and 44% (full uncertainty range 0–100%) for farm yard manures/slurries, 11% (full uncertainty range 0–75%) and 48% (full uncertainty range 0–99%) for damaged road verges, 16% (full uncertainty range (0–78%) and 52% (full uncertainty range (0–100%) for decaying instream vegetation and 4% (full uncertainty range 0–31%) and 10% (full uncertainty range (0–44%) for human septic waste. The results of mass conservation tests suggest that the procedure combining bulk 13C and 15N isotope values and NIR spectroscopy data on organic molecular structures is sensitive to the risks of significant non-conservative tracer behaviour in the fluvial environment and will therefore not necessarily work at all in-channel sites in all catchments.

Text
__soton.ac.uk_ude_PersonalFiles_Users_as10_mydocuments_Work 2013_Adrian Collins_Papers_Collins et al_AEE 2014.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
Download (2MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 19 June 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 July 2014
Published date: 15 October 2014
Keywords: sediment-bound organic matter, sources, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy, salmonids, farm manures
Organisations: Infrastructure Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 381154
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381154
ISSN: 0167-8809
PURE UUID: 61dd10a0-9391-41d4-b0da-04b59facb3d0
ORCID for A. Stringfellow: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8873-0010
ORCID for D.A. Sear: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-6179

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 Dec 2015 16:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:01

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: A.L. Collins
Author: L.J. Williams
Author: Y.S. Zhang
Author: J.A.J. Dungait
Author: David J Smallman
Author: M. Marius
Author: E.R. Dixon
Author: A. Stringfellow ORCID iD
Author: D.A. Sear ORCID iD
Author: J.I. Jones
Author: P.S. Naden

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×