農林水産研究情報センターで作成したPDFファイルを使用している。

The seasonal variation and landscape regulation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in streams have been studied in two watersheds in the boreal zone. The seasonal variation was found to be highly correlated to variations in runoff. An increase in runoff was always accompanied with an increase in DOC concentration. However, there were indications that the TOC concentration was restricted by the soil TOC pool during snowmelt. The main factors affecting DOC exports varied between seasons. During winter baseflow the spatial variation in DOC exports was strongly influenced by wetland coverage, during snowmelt the exports were correlated to factors describing the size and location of the catchment, and during the snow-free season they were heavily affected by the proportions of wetlands and forests in the catchments. Small headwaters had the highest terrestrial DOC export, per unit area. The properties of the DOC changed during spring flood, towards lower molecular weight and more aliphatic compounds. These changes affected the bioavailability of the DOC, which increased during spring flood. There were also differences in the DOC properties between wetlands and forest soils; the forested soils yielded DOC with lower molecular weight (measured as 254 nm/365 nm light absorbance ratios), largely from superficial layers that were activated during high flow events, while wetland soils generally provided a more constant carbon source with higher molecular weight. The majority of the DOC was exported by wetlands, but most of the short-term bioavailable DOC (BP7) was derived from the forests, during the spring flood period, indicating that bacterial production in streams and lakes is likely to be almost entirely based on DOC exported from forested areas during, and some time after, the spring flood event.

Existing terrestrial carbon accounting models have mainly investigated atmosphere-vegetationsoil stocks and fluxes but have largely ignored the hydrological flux of organic carbon. It is generally assumed that biomass and soil carbon are the only relevant pools in a landscape ecosystem. However, recent findings have suggested that significant amounts of organic carbon can dissolve (dissolved organic carbon or DOC) or particulate (particulate organic carbon or POC) in water and enter the hydrological flux at the catchment scale. A significant quantity of total organic carbon (TOC) sequestered through photosynthesis may be exported from the landscape through the hydrological flux and stored in downstream stocks.¶ This thesis presents a catchment-scale case study investigation into the export of organic carbon through a river system in comparison with carbon that is produced by vegetation through photosynthesis. The Cotter River Catchment was selected as the case study. It is a forested catchment that experienced a major wildfire event in January 2003. The approach is based on an integration of a number of models. The main input data were time series of in-stream carbon measurements and remotely sensed vegetation greenness. The application of models to investigate diffuse chemical substances has dramatically increased in the past few years because of the significant role of hydrology in controlling ecosystem exchange. The research firstly discusses the use of a hydrological simulation model (IHACRES) to analyse organic carbon samples from stream and tributaries in the Cotter River Catchment case study. The IHACRES rainfall-runoff model and a regionalization method are used to estimate stream-flow for the 75 sub-catchments. The simulated streamflow data were used to calculate organic carbon loads from concentrations sampled at five locations in the catchment.¶ The gross primary productivity (GPP) of the vegetation cover in the catchment was estimated using a radiation use efficiency (RUE) model driven by MODIS TERRA data on vegetation greenness and modeled surface irradiance (RS). The relationship between total organic carbon discharged in-stream and total carbon uptake by plants was assessed using a cross-correlation analysis.¶ The IHACRES rainfall-runoff model was successfully calibrated at three gauged sites and performed well. The results of the calibration procedure were used in the regionalization method that enabled streamflow to be estimated at ungauged locations including the seven sampling sites and the 75 sub-catchment areas. The IHACRES modelling approach was found appropriate for investigating a wide range of issues related to the hydrological export of organic carbon at the catchment scale. A weekly sampling program was implemented to provide estimates of TOC, DOC and POC concentrations in the Cotter River Catchment between July 2003 and June 2004. The organic carbon load was estimated using an averaging method.¶ The rate of photosynthesis by vegetation (GPP) was successfully estimated using the radiation use efficiency model to discern general patterns of vegetation productivity at sub-catchment scales. This analysis required detailed spatial resolution of the GPP across the entire catchment area (comprising 75 sub-catchment areas) in addition to the sampling locations. Important factors that varied at the catchment scale during the sampling period July 2003 – June 2004, particularly the wildfire impacts, were also considered in this assessment. ¶ The results of the hydrologic modelling approach and terrestrial GPP outcome were compared using cross correlation and regression analysis. This comparison revealed the likely proportion of catchment GPP that contributes to in-stream hydrological flux of organic carbon. TOC Load was 0.45% of GPP and 22.5 - 25% of litter layer. As a result of this investigation and giving due consideration to the uncertainties in the approach, it can be concluded that the hydrological flux of organic carbon in a forested catchment is a function of gross primary productivity.