nad a22 4500 551414359 20181214064258.0 cr unu---uuuuu 181214e20180701xx s 000 0 eng 10.5167/uzh-159291 doi 10.1038/s41561-018-0134-4 doi (ZORA)oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:159291 570 ddc 590 ddc A global analysis of terrestrial plant litter dynamics in non-perennial waterways [Elektronische Daten] [T Datry, A Foulquier, et al, Florian Altermatt, Chelsea J Little, A Bruderer] openAccess eu-repo Perennial rivers and streams make a disproportionate contribution to global carbon (C) cycling. However, the contribution of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), which sometimes cease to flow and can dry completely, is largely ignored although they represent over half the global river network. Substantial amounts of terrestrial plant litter (TPL) accumulate in dry riverbeds and, upon rewetting, this material can undergo rapid microbial processing. We present the results of a global research collaboration that collected and analysed TPL from 212 dry riverbeds across major environmental gradients and climate zones. We assessed litter decomposability by quantifying the litter carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and oxygen (O2) consumption in standardized assays and estimated the potential short-term CO2 emissions during rewetting events. Aridity, cover of riparian vegetation, channel width and dry-phase duration explained most variability in the quantity and decomposability of plant litter in IRES. Our estimates indicate that a single pulse of CO2 emission upon litter rewetting contributes up to 10% of the daily CO2 emission from perennial rivers and stream, particularly in temperate climates. This indicates that the contributions of IRES should be included in global C-cycling assessments. Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies zora General Earth and Planetary Sciences zora Datry T. joint author Foulquier A. joint author et al joint author Altermatt Florian joint author Little Chelsea J. joint author Bruderer A. joint author Nature Geoscience 11(7):497-503 https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/159291/1/Datry_finales_Manuskript.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository 1 Journal Article PeerReviewed zora ZORA 856 40 https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/159291/1/Datry_finales_Manuskript.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository ZORA 700 1- Datry T. joint author ZORA 700 1- Foulquier A. joint author ZORA 700 -- et al joint author ZORA 700 1- Altermatt Florian joint author ZORA 700 1- Little Chelsea J. joint author ZORA 700 1- Bruderer A. joint author ZORA 773 0- Nature Geoscience 11(7):497-503 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 ZORA ZORA ZORA Journal Article openAccess