Forest harvest and water treatability : analysis of dissolved organic carbon in headwater streams of contrasting forest harvest history during base flow and storm flow
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Mistick, Emily
issued: 2021-03-31T07:00:00Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is important to ecosystem functioning and of interest to drinking water treatment as it is costly to remove from source water. The effects of land use change (e.g. forest harvest) on DOC are not fully understood. Past studies of the effects of forestry on DOC have found mixed results, and covariate effects complicate mechanistic understanding and may underlie regional differences. DOC is typically highest during storm events, and detailed time-resolved measurements of DOC over longer periods are just becoming feasible with advances in in situ sensors. In this thesis, I investigated DOC concentration and character for headwater streams of contrasting forest harvest history in the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Maple Ridge, British Columbia, and discussed implications for water treatment through expert interviews with water treatment engineers at Metro Vancouver. I took a two-pronged approach to the field study by measuring not only temporally detailed DOC concentration at two contrasting sites, but also spatially broad DOC concentration and character at 24 sites for six time points during the same study period. From the temporal analysis, I found base flow DOC concentration to be lower in the clear-cut stream (Clear cut: 2.26 ± 0.43 mg/L; Forested: 4.30 ± 0.83 mg/L), but storm response to be stronger (mean increase DOC: Clear cut: 2.42 mg/L, Forested: 1.99 mg/L). Lower DOC concentration after cutting may be due to reductions in carbon inputs like leaf litter, though differences in drainage area and the presence of a bog lake may also account for some of the observed difference. Elevated storm responses may be due to changes in flow paths related to forest harvesting. From the broad sampling analysis, I found differences in DOC character between the two land use types: DOC in clear-cut sites was more protein-like whereas DOC in forested sites it was more humic-like, although once random factors were taken into account in generali…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/72966
note: FOREST HARVEST AND WATER TREATABILITY: ANALYSIS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON IN HEADWATER STREAMS OF CONTRASTING FOREST HARVEST HISTORY DURING BASE FLOW AND STORM FLOW by Emily Mistick B.A., Harvard University, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Resources, Environment, and Sustainability) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2019 © Emily Mistick, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Forest harvest and water treatability: Analysis of dissolved organic carbon in headwater streams of contrasting forest harvest history during base flow and storm flow submitted by Emily Mistick in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Resources, Environment, and Sustainability Examining Committee: Mark Johnson Supervisor John Richardson Supervisory Committee Member Sarah Gergel Additional Examiner iii Abstract Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is important to ecosystem functioning and of interest to drinking water treatment as it is costly to remove from source water. The effects of land use change (e.g. forest harvest) on DOC are not fully understood. Past studies of the effects of forestry on DOC have found mixed results, and covariate effects complicate mechanistic understanding and may underlie regional differences. DOC is typically highest during storm events, and detailed time-resolved measurements of DOC over longer periods are just becoming feasible with advances in in situ sensors. In this thesis, I investigated DOC concentration and character for headwater streams of contrasting forest harvest history in the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Maple Ridge, British Columbia, and discussed implications for water treatment through expert interviews with water treatme…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0387350
language: eng
degree discipline: Resources, Environment and Sustainability
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72966