Refine
Document Type
- Report (3)
- Doctoral thesis (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (4)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (4)
Language
- English (4)
Keywords
- Hühnerwasser (4) (remove)
This volume summarizes the monitoring activities and results at the ‘Chicken Creek’ catchment for the period 2005 to 2010. The development in all ecosystem compartments is assessed, classified, and compared to more mature systems with regard to functional relevance and succession stage. In a final synopsis, the whole catchment is evaluated with regard to ecosystem development and an outlook is given on the expected trends both in the short and the medium term.
Processes of microbial carbon transformation and accumulation during initial stream succession were investigated. Studies were carried out in the experimental watershed Chicken Creek, constructed to investigate ecosystem succession, and additionally in experimental flumes simulating sand-bed streams. In a one year investigation, microbial respiration in soils and sediments along the hydrologic flow path of three stream corridors in the Chicken Creek watershed was measured. Contrary to expectation, respiration rates of rewetted soil and sediment from dry stream channels were similar to rates measured with sediments collected in the perennial channel sections. This suggested that permanent water availability was not a main factor determining metabolic potential in this early successional watershed. In an outdoor flume experiment it was determined whether shallow (1cm) and deep (4cm) sediment disturbances in small sand-bed streams have similar effects on whole-stream metabolism, and whether autotrophic and heterotrophic processes and organisms respond in similar ways. Results suggested that disturbing sediments during early successional stages had no effect on whole-stream metabolism, whereas in advanced stages, deep but not shallow sediment disturbance could lead to a transitory shift towards heterotrophy. Changes in riparian and in-stream vegetation during stream succession come along with different amounts and types of organic matter input in stream ecosystems. It was tested to determine if increasing quality and quantity of litter input changes whole-stream metabolism and activity and structure of microbial communities associated with sediments and leaves. Whole-stream metabolism was found to be similar in all treatments because sediments and leaves were constrained by oxygen and nutrient availability. There seemed to be compensation between the effect of algae fueling microbial activity in open-land treatments and microbial use of allochthonous carbon sources in the litter treatments. Fungal and bacterial activity associated with leaves was unaffected by the background litter standing stock, but the structure of communities was affected. However, leaf quality had a clear effect on microbial activity and community structure with higher activity on tree compared to grass leaves.
This report introduces the monitoring installations of the artificial catchment 'Chicken Creek' and summarizes results of the measurement in the period 2005-2008, covering various aspects and compartments from meteorology and hydrology, soil and soil solution chemistry, vegetation and soil fauna to limnology and surface patternsfor the period 2005 to 2008. This volume is the beginning of a series with results of the ongoing Chicken Creek monitoring program.
In this first volume of the series ‘Ecosystem Development’, the geographic situation of the artificial catchment 'Chicken Creek', its construction and fundamental structures, as well as an outline of the comprehensive monitoring program are introduced. Established in autumn 2005 thanks to financial support from the Brandenburg University of Technology and the State of Brandenburg itself, the monitoring program was set up in order to document the highly dynamic development of this initial-phase system and describe the newly emerging structures both qualitatively and quantitatively. The data provided by the central monitoring project can also be used as the fundamental basis for a number of other scientific projects. The objective of this series is to document this important research site, including the changes occurring during the ongoing initial stages of ecosystem development. Whereas this volume presents the site itself and the general concept of the monitoring investigations, the following volumes in the series will present the results gathered during each phase of the investigative period.