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Where Does Wood Most Effectively Enhance Storage? Network‐Scale Distribution of Sediment and Organic Matter Stored by Instream Wood
Author(s) -
Pfeiffer Andrew,
Wohl Ellen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl076057
Subject(s) - streams , sediment , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , volume (thermodynamics) , geology , geomorphology , geography , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , computer network , physics , cartography , computer science
We used 48 reach‐scale measurements of large wood and wood‐associated sediment and coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) storage within an 80 km 2 catchment to examine spatial patterns of storage relative to stream order. Wood, sediment, and CPOM are not distributed uniformly across the drainage basin. Third‐ and fourth‐order streams (23% of total stream length) disproportionately store wood and coarse and fine sediments: 55% of total wood volume, 78% of coarse sediment, and 49% of fine sediment, respectively. Fourth‐order streams store ~0.8 m 3 of coarse sediment and 0.2 m 3 of fine sediment per cubic meter of wood. CPOM storage is highest in first‐order streams (60% of storage in 47% of total network stream length). First‐order streams can store up to 0.3 m 3 of CPOM for each cubic meter of wood. Logjams in third‐ and fourth‐order reaches are primary sediment storage agents, whereas roots in small streams may be more important for storage of CPOM. We propose the large wood particulate storage index to quantify average volume of sediment or CPOM stored by a cubic meter of wood.