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Science 6 April 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5514, pp. 86 - 90
DOI: 10.1126/science.1056874
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Reports

Control of Nitrogen Export from Watersheds by Headwater Streams

Bruce J. Peterson,1 Wilfred M. Wollheim,1 Patrick J. Mulholland,2 Jackson R. Webster,3 Judy L. Meyer,4 Jennifer L. Tank,5 Eugènia Martí,6 William B. Bowden,7 H. Maurice Valett,3 Anne E. Hershey,8 William H. McDowell,9 Walter K. Dodds,10 Stephen K. Hamilton,11 Stanley Gregory,12 Donna D. Morrall13

A comparative 15N-tracer study of nitrogen dynamics in headwater streams from biomes throughout North America demonstrates that streams exert control over nutrient exports to rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The most rapid uptake and transformation of inorganic nitrogen occurred in the smallest streams. Ammonium entering these streams was removed from the water within a few tens to hundreds of meters. Nitrate was also removed from stream water but traveled a distance 5 to 10 times as long, on average, as ammonium. Despite low ammonium concentration in stream water, nitrification rates were high, indicating that small streams are potentially important sources of atmospheric nitrous oxide. During seasons of high biological activity, the reaches of headwater streams typically export downstream less than half of the input of dissolved inorganic nitrogen from their watersheds.

1 Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
2 Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Post Office Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
3 Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
4 Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
5 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, N-411 Turner Hall, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
6 Centre d'Estudis Avancats de Blanes, Cami de Sta. Barbara s/n, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain.
7 Landcare Research, Post Office Box 69, Lincoln 8152, New Zealand.
8 Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA.
9 Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire, James Hall, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
10 Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 232 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
11 Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA.
12 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
13 Procter & Gamble Company, Experimental Stream Facility, 1003 Route 50, Milford, OH 45150, USA.

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