The main focus of the Watershed Biogeochemistry Group is to investigate major elemental cycles in streams and their watersheds, particularly carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus pools and fluxes. We are especially interested in quantifying and characterizing the rich array of organic molecules that exist in stream ecosystems, and serve as the main food source to microorganisms and consequently to all biological communities. Throughout the watershed, water is found in many places beyond stream channels, including aquifers, soils, and sediments. Our biogeochemistry laboratory has the capabilities to perform a wide range of chemistry analyses in water samples from all these places.
Watershed Biogeochemistry Staff
Watershed Biogeochemistry News

Stroud Center Scientist to Serve as Nature Conservancy Trustee
Diana Oviedo Vargas, Ph.D., is to serve as a trustee of the Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware, the conservancy recently announced.

Respiration regimes in rivers: partitioning source-specific respiration from metabolism time series
Bertuzzo, E., E.R. Hotchkiss, A. Argerich, J.S. Kominoski, D. Oviedo-Vargas, P. Savoy, R. Scarlett, D. von Schiller, and J.B. Heffernan. 2022. Limnology and Oceanography 67(11): 2374–2388.

Adventures in Geographic Space: Postdoc Daniel Myers Recalls the Wild as He Solves Water Challenges
On a fateful backcountry internship some years ago, the Stroud Center’s new postdoc, Dan Myers, Ph.D., heard the call of the wild and something more: his life’s mission.

Partitioning inorganic carbon fluxes from paired O2–CO2 gas measurements in a neotropical headwater stream, Costa Rica
Marzolf, N.S., G.E. Small, D. Oviedo-Vargas, C.N. Ganong, J.H. Duff, A. Ramírez, C.M. Pringle, D.P. Genereux, and M. Ardón. 2022. Biogeochemistry 160: 259–273.

The Viscosity Effect: A Newly Found Connection Between the Riparian Zone and Water Quality
A new Stroud Center study shows that the density of water plays a previously overlooked role in nutrient and carbon cycling in freshwater ecosystems.

Metabolism and soil water viscosity control diel patterns of nitrate and DOC in a low order temperate stream
Oviedo-Vargas, D., M. Peipoch, and C. Dow. 2022. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 127(5): e2021JG006640.