A rapidly growing body of work suggests mountain streams emit surprisingly large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Studies in these environments are scarce and estimates of CO₂ fluxes from aquatic environments are poorly constrained. High-altitude tropical grasslands, known as “páramos,” are characterized by high solar radiation, high precipitation, and low temperature. They also exhibit some of the highest ecosystem carbon stocks per unit area on Earth. In this forum presentation I summarize findings of surface CO₂ fluxes from adjacent aquatic and terrestrial environments based on a suite of field observations. I address the role of hydrology in regulating the magnitude and fate of dissolved carbon in streams and examine the inherent spatial and temporal variability of these fluxes. These findings contribute toward our understanding ecosystem carbon cycling in high-altitude, tropical, headwater catchments.

Bio

Diego Riveros-Iregui is the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at UNC-Chapel Hill. He received a B.S. in geosciences from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1999), a M.S. in geology from the University of Minnesota (2004), and a Ph.D. in ecology and environmental sciences from Montana State University (2008). He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder (2008-2010) and an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska (2010-2013) before relocating to UNC (2013-present). His research interests include watershed science, forest and soil processes, ecosystem ecology, and human-environment interactions. Currently, his field studies include rural and urban watersheds of the North Carolina Piedmont, high-altitude wetlands in the Andes Mountains, and human-impacted highlands of the Galapagos Islands. He is recipient of the J. Carlyle Sitterson Award for Teaching First-Year Students, and the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.