Pressing flowers between pages…
In Summer 2025, I will quantify a mercury (Hg) budget in a beaver-dominated and an unimpounded (control) reach that includes stream inputs and losses, groundwater contributions, volatilization, and estimates of atmospheric deposition (Fig. 1). The objectives of constructing a Hg budget of a beaver-dominated reach are twofold; (1) merge fluvial geomorphology and biogeochemistry principles to advance our characterization of element cycling in river corridors (RCs) under unique drivers and (2) provide land managers with relevant water quality data to better inform them of how beaver activity influences surface water quality. Within the beaver-dominated reach, the Hg budget integrates the four ecogeomorphic units (EGUs) included in my work from the last two years. The EGUs are created through the unique modifications of the RC by beavers. My comparison of the beaver-dominated reach to the unimpounded reach will allow us to evaluate how changing fluvial geomorphology driven by beaver impacts storage and transport of Hg. Further, the reach scale budget data will demonstrate how multiple consecutive beaver ponds in a reach ? the manner in which beaver ponds most commonly occur ? are increasing transport of Hg downstream compared to an unimpounded reach.