A large part of the world's inland waters, including streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and reservoirs is subject to occasional, recurrent or even permanent drying. Moreover, the occurrence and intensity of drying events are increasing in many areas of the world because of climate change, water abstraction, and land use alteration. Yet, information on the gaseous carbon (C) fluxes from dry inland waters is scarce, thus precluding a comprehensive assessment of C emissions including all, also intermittently dry, inland waters. Here, we review current knowledge on gaseous C fluxes from lotic (streams and rivers) and lentic (ponds, lakes, and reservoirs) inland waters during dry phases and the response to rewetting, considering controls and sources as well as implications of including 'dry' fluxes for local and global scale estimates. Moreover, knowledge gaps and research needs are discussed. Our conservative estimates indicate that adding emissions from dry inland waters to current global estimates of CO2 emissions from inland waters could result in an increase of 0.22 Pg C year(-1), or similar to 10% of total fluxes. We outline the necessary conceptual understanding to successfully include dry phases in a more complete picture of inland water C emissions and identify potential implications for global C cycle feedbacks.
1.Catalan Inst Water Res ICRA, Emili Grahit 101, Girona 17003, Spain 2.Univ Barcelona, Dept Evolutionary Biol Ecol & Environm Sci, Ave Diagonal 643, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain 3.Umea Univ, Dept Ecol & Environm Sci, S-90187 Umea, Sweden 4.Helmholz Ctr Environm Res UFZ, Bruckstr 3a, D-39114 Magdeburg, Germany 5.Leibniz Inst Freshwater Ecol & Inland Fisheries I, Muggelseedamm 310, D-12587 Berlin, Germany 6.Univ Basque Country UPV EHU, Fac Sci & Technol, Dept Plant Biol & Ecol, Apdo 644, Bilbao 48080, Spain
Recommended Citation:
Marce, Rafael,Obrador, Biel,Gomez-Gener, Lluis,et al. Emissions from dry inland waters are a blind spot in the global carbon cycle[J]. EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS,2019-01-01,188:240-248