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dc.contributor.authorBurford, MA
dc.contributor.authorRevill, AT
dc.contributor.authorPalmer, DW
dc.contributor.authorClementson, L
dc.contributor.authorRobson, BJ
dc.contributor.authorWebster, IT
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T14:13:33Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T14:13:33Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.date.modified2012-03-06T05:42:41Z
dc.identifier.issn1323-1650
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/43321
dc.description.abstractWorldwide, rivers continue to be dammed to supply water for humans. The resulting regulation of downstream flow impacts on biogeochemical and physical processes, potentially affecting river and estuarine productivity. Our study tested the hypothesis that primary production in the downstream freshwater reaches of a dammed river was less limited by light and nutrients relative to downstream estuarine primary production. In a tropical dryland Australian river estuary, we found that water-column primary productivity was highest at freshwater sites that had lowest light attenuation. Nitrogen may also have limited primary productivity. Below the freshwater zone was a region of macrotidal mixing with high concentrations of suspended soil particles, nutrients and chlorophyll a, and lower but variable primary productivity rates. Light controlled productivity, but the algal cells may also have been osmotically stressed due to increasing salinity. Further downstream in the estuary, primary productivity was lower than the freshwater reaches and light and nutrient availability appear to be a factor. Therefore the reduced magnitude of peak-flow events due to flow regulation, and the resulting decrease in nutrient export, is likely to be negatively impacting estuarine primary production. This has implications for future development of dams where rivers have highly seasonal flow.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.format.extent188478 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherCSIRO Publishing
dc.publisher.placeAustralia
dc.publisher.urihttp://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF10224
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom141
dc.relation.ispartofpageto151
dc.relation.ispartofissue2
dc.relation.ispartofjournalMarine & Freshwater Research: advances in the aquatic sciences
dc.relation.ispartofvolume62
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEnvironmental management
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode410404
dc.titleRiver regulation alters drivers of primary productivity along a tropical river-estuary system
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyGriffith Sciences, Griffith School of Environment
gro.rights.copyright© 2011 CSIRO. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
gro.date.issued2011
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorBurford, Michele A.


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