BIANCA RODRÍGUEZ-CARDONA
Current and past projects
La Romaine Hydroelectric Complex
The CarBBAS group has been monitoring La Romaine Hydroelectric Complex since 2015 where we have been able to follow the biogeochemistry throughout the comissioning of the four reservoirs (RO1, RO2, RO3, and RO4) as well as the processes associated with the aging of them. I am focusing on the temporal and spatial patterns of nutrients, POM, and DOC concentrations within the reservoirs and complex.
The Carbon Triangle
A collaborative project with Environment and Climate Change Canada to evaluate the coupling between long-term trends in DOC, water color, and CO2 in lakes of eastern Canada and their connections with hydrological and lake morphological characteristics.
​
Link to paper:https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00999-9
Arctic Boreal Fires and Streams
As fire frequency and intensity increase in the Pan-Arctic, it is importnat to understand their effects on aquatic ecosystems and biological processes. In this project we evaluated inorganic nitrogen uptake rates in streams in the Central Siberian Plateau, Russia, where we conducted nutrient pulse additions of NO3 and NH4 in streams recently burned to watersheds that have not burned in over 100 years. We found that recently burned sites had low DOC concentrations and high NO3 leading to greater export of N due to low microbial efficiency in N uptake while older burned sites showed the lowest NO3 concentrations and greatest DOC as well as highest N uptake rates.
Link to paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65520-0
N Uptake in Tropical Montane Streams
Tropical montane streams are charactized by being enrgetically limited but little is known about the relationship between carbon and nitrogen in these systems. We performed paired nutrient pulse additions in streams of the Luquillo Mountains in Puerto Rico where we added NO3 and NO3 with acetate to determine the role of carbon in N cycling. We found that these streams are exporters of N and only when carbon is available can inorganic N be removed from the water column.
Link to paper: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/713070
Stream DOM Long-term Trends
This project was part of the NCEAS working group in Stream Elemental Cycling. We evaluated long-term trends in DOC, DON, and DOC:DON ratios in streams from various biomes (tropical, arctic, boreal, temperate, grasslands). We found the DOC and DON trends are highly decoupled in streams leading to major implications for DOM stoichiometry.
Link to paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15965
C and N coupling in streams
To better understand the coupling between carbon and nitrogen in streams, we conducted NO3 pulse additions in streams across a wide gradient in DOC concentrations. We found that streams with the greatest DOC concentrations and DOC:NO3 ratios were the most efficient at N removal from the water column in temperate streams of New Hampshire.
Link to paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015JG003146