Battin Tom J, Lauerwald Ronny, Bernhardt Emily S, Bertuzzo Enrico, Gener Lluís Gómez, Hall Robert O, Hotchkiss Erin R, Maavara Taylor, Pavelsky Tamlin M, Ran Lishan, Raymond Peter, Rosentreter Judith A, Regnier Pierre
River Ecosystems Laboratory, Alpine and Polar Environmental Research Centre (ALPOLE), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, UMR ECOSYS, Thiverval-Grignon, France.
Nature. 2023 Jan;613(7944):449-459. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05500-8. Epub 2023 Jan 18.
River networks represent the largest biogeochemical nexus between the continents, ocean and atmosphere. Our current understanding of the role of rivers in the global carbon cycle remains limited, which makes it difficult to predict how global change may alter the timing and spatial distribution of riverine carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. Here we review the state of river ecosystem metabolism research and synthesize the current best available estimates of river ecosystem metabolism. We quantify the organic and inorganic carbon flux from land to global rivers and show that their net ecosystem production and carbon dioxide emissions shift the organic to inorganic carbon balance en route from land to the coastal ocean. Furthermore, we discuss how global change may affect river ecosystem metabolism and related carbon fluxes and identify research directions that can help to develop better predictions of the effects of global change on riverine ecosystem processes. We argue that a global river observing system will play a key role in understanding river networks and their future evolution in the context of the global carbon budget.
河网是各大洲、海洋和大气之间最大的生物地球化学枢纽。我们目前对河流在全球碳循环中作用的理解仍然有限，这使得难以预测全球变化将如何改变河流碳固存和温室气体排放的时间和空间分布。在此，我们回顾了河流生态系统代谢研究的现状，并综合了当前对河流生态系统代谢的最佳可用估计。我们量化了从陆地到全球河流的有机和无机碳通量，并表明它们的净生态系统生产和二氧化碳排放改变了从陆地到沿海海洋途中有机碳与无机碳的平衡。此外，我们讨论了全球变化可能如何影响河流生态系统代谢及相关碳通量，并确定了有助于更好地预测全球变化对河流生态系统过程影响的研究方向。我们认为，全球河流观测系统将在理解河网及其在全球碳预算背景下的未来演变方面发挥关键作用。
