A Biogeochemical Perspective on the Reactivity of Dissolved Organic Matter in Natural Waters: from Antarctica to the Arctic
Diane McKnight
Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
ABSTRACT: Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is ubiquitous in natural waters; it is derived from degradation of plant and microbial precursor organic materials. DOM concentrations are increasing in lakes and streams of north temperate regions and the Arctic. DOM is of interest to environmental engineers for several reasons. For example, the transport of trace metals and organic pollutants and the production of disinfection by products in drinking water treatment can be controlled by interactions with DOM. Further, environmental engineers, biogeochemists, and aquatic ecologists use similar methods for chemical characterization of DOM even though these research communities address different questions. Diane McKnight discusses how understanding ecological and biogeochemical processes in lakes and streams can provide useful, complementary insights beyond chemical characterization, and lead to managing current environmental engineering issues involving DOM. McKnight presents studies from the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and the arctic tundra in Alaska.
