In particular, we are looking at how changes in riparian vegetation can alter the flux of one nutrient, silica, www.selleckchem.com/products/Bortezomib.html in rivers. Rivers are the primary source of silicon to coastal ocean ecosystems, where it is often a limiting nutrient for important groups of phytoplankton – like diatoms and radiolarians – that are the foundation of aquatic food webs. Declines in riverine input of bioavailable silica to coastal ecosystems, in combination with increases in riverine discharge of phosphorus and nitrogen, have been shown to limit diatom growth and allow ‘undesirable’ types of algae to flourish

(Garnier et al., 2010, Lane et al., 2004, Officer and Ryther, 1980 and Smayda, 1990). Bioavailable silica, hereafter Si, includes dissolved silica (DSi) and amorphous particles of silica (ASi) that are relatively soluble,

e.g., siliceous diatom frustules, sponge spicules, and terrestrial plant phytoliths. Mineral silicates like quartz sand and clays are relatively insoluble, and thus are a less significant source of Si to aquatic ecosystems. In recent years, studies have shown that terrestrial plants play a larger CDK inhibitor role in the global silica cycle than had been previously acknowledged (e.g., Conley, 2003, Meunier et al., 2008 and Vandevenne et al., 2012). Specifically, those studies

found that terrestrial vegetation can use and store significant amounts of silica. We surmised that when vegetation is located directly within a river channel, it will also have a substantial impact on silica. This study took place on the Platte River (Nebraska, United States), where an accidental experiment has been underway for more than a century. In the 1900s, river discharge was reduced for agricultural irrigation, leading to an incursion of native Etofibrate vegetation into newly exposed areas of riverbed and the formation of vegetated islands. In 2002, a non-native, invasive grass, Phragmites australis (common reed), first appeared in the river and within just a few years infested >500 km of river corridor ( R. Walters, pers. comm., 2010). Due to its dense growth habit, Phragmites was more effective than the native vegetation at slowing flows and causing fine sediment deposition. Furthermore, Phragmites biomass is relatively rich in silica relative to other plant species ( Struyf et al., 2007b), making it an effective “Si-bioengineer” ( Viaroli et al., 2013). The combination of Phragmites-generated biomass and its shedding onto stable islands could cause Si to continuously accumulate and thus deprive the flow of its equilibrium concentration.