Spatiotemporal Controls on the Delivery of Dissolved Organic Matter to Streams Following a Wildfire

Warmer and drier climate has contributed to increased occurrence of large, high severity wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, drawing concerns for water quality and ecosystem recovery. While nutrient fluxes generally increase post-fire, the composition of organic matter (OM) transported to streams immediately following a fire is poorly constrained, yet can play an integral role in downstream water quality and biogeochemistry. Here, we quantified the spatiotemporal patterns of dissolved OM (DOM) chemistry for five streams burned by wildfires in Oregon, USA in 2020. We sampled over a 24 hr storm event 1 month after the fire revealing DOM dynamics were temporally variable, but spatially linked with burn severity. Specifically, nitrogen and aromatic character of DOM increased in streams burned at greater severity. Our results suggest spatially distinct gradients of burn severity impact DOM dynamics immediately following fire activity and highlight a key gap in our knowledge of post-fire DOM transport to streams.

Automated summary

The warmer and drier climate has led to an increase in large, high severity wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, raising concerns about water quality and ecosystem recovery. This study quantified the spatiotemporal patterns of dissolved organic matter (DOM) chemistry in streams burned by wildfires in Oregon, USA in 2020. The results showed that the composition of DOM was temporally variable and linked with burn severity, suggesting distinct gradients of burn severity impact DOM dynamics immediately following fire activity.