Keywords
sediment
elevation gradient
How to Cite
Abstract
The metabolic activity of sediments was measured over an altitudinal gradient in a mountain tropical river (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta – Colombia). It was related along the river basin with climatic and hydrologic parameters during the dry season. Additionally, observations of the metabolic activity and the variation of the P/R ratio during a day were made. Measures were made with a light-dark bottle method and two hours exposition. For the estimation of the real area, images of previously weighted subsamples of sediment were processed with an ImageJ 1.40g computer program. Over the altitudinal gradient we find that community respiration (CR) was higher than the gross primary productivity (GPP), also P/R < 1. The light intensity was the most important variable and was related with the P/R ratio on the upper basin and with GPP over the entire gradient. Our results shows that the substrate sediment is strong heterotrophic over the entire basin but mainly on the middle part of the river.References
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