Control of Nitrogen Export from Watersheds by Headwater Streams

@article{Peterson2001ControlON,
  title={Control of Nitrogen Export from Watersheds by Headwater Streams},
  author={Bruce J. Peterson and Wilfred M. Wollheim and Patrick J. Mulholland and Jackson R. Webster and Judy L. Meyer and Jennifer L. Tank and Eug{\`e}nia Mart{\'i} and William B. Bowden and H. Maurice Valett and Anne E. Hershey and William H. McDowell and Walter K. Dodds and Stephen K. Hamilton and Stanley V. Gregory and Donna D'angelo Morrall},
  journal={Science},
  year={2001},
  volume={292},
  pages={86 - 90}
}
A comparative 15N-tracer study of nitrogen dynamics in headwater streams from biomes throughout North America demonstrates that streams exert control over nutrient exports to rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The most rapid uptake and transformation of inorganic nitrogen occurred in the smallest streams. Ammonium entering these streams was removed from the water within a few tens to hundreds of meters. Nitrate was also removed from stream water but traveled a distance 5 to 10 times as long, on… 
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