Loosening the pipes on the global carbon cycle one molecule at a time
Freshwaters move vast amounts of carbon each year from land to the oceans in the form of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Along the way, some of this DOM is assimilated by organisms, buried into sediment, and returned to the atmosphere as greenhouse gasses. In this talk, I will discuss the implications of land use change for the transport of carbon through freshwaters and the microbial mechanisms that facilitate these processes. I will focus on how both food web production and carbon fluxes in north temperate lakes are products of upland forests and wetlands. I will end by exploring exciting new opportunities for tracking the fate and function of DOM through freshwaters in greater detail than ever before.
Host: Hans-Peter Grossart