Articles | Volume 21, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3537-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3537-2024
Research article
 | 
08 Aug 2024
Research article |  | 08 Aug 2024

From Iron Curtain to green belt: shift from heterotrophic to autotrophic nitrogen retention in the Elbe River over 35 years of passive restoration

Alexander Wachholz, James W. Jawitz, and Dietrich Borchardt

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Cited articles

Aberle, J., Nikora, V., Henning, M., Ettmer, B., and Hentschel, B.: Statistical characterization of bed roughness due to bed forms: A field study in the Elbe River at Aken, Germany, Water Resour. Res., 46, W03521, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007406, 2010. 
Adams, M. S., Ballin, U., Gaumert, T., Hale, B. W., Kausch, H., and Kruse, R.: Monitoring selected indicators of ecological change in the Elbe River since the fall of the iron curtain, Environ. Conserv., 28, 333–344, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892901000364, 2001. 
Allesson, L., Ström, L., and Berggren, M.: Impact of photochemical processing of DOC on the bacterioplankton respiratory quotient in aquatic ecosystems, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 7538–7545, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069621, 2016. 
Amann, T., Weiss, A., and Hartmann, J.: Carbon dynamics in the freshwater part of the Elbe estuary, Germany: Implications of improving water quality, Estuarine, Coast. Shelf Sci., 107, 112–121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2012.05.012, 2012. 
Aristi, I., Arroita, M., Larrañaga, A., Ponsatí, L., Sabater, S., Von Schiller, D., Elosegi, A., and Acuña, V.: Flow regulation by dams affects ecosystem metabolism in Mediterranean rivers, Freshwater Biol., 59, 1816–1829, https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.12385, 2014. 
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Short summary
Human activities are rivers' main source of nitrogen, causing eutrophication and other hazards. However, rivers can serve as a natural defense mechanism against this by retaining nitrogen. We show that the Elbe River retains more nitrogen during times of high pollution. With improvements in water quality, less nitrogen is retained. We explain this with changed algal and bacterial activities, which correspond to pollution and have many implications for the river and adjacent ecosystems.
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