Hurricanes Accelerate Dissolved Organic Carbon Cycling in Coastal Ecosystems

Extreme weather events such as tropical storms and hurricanes deliver large amounts of freshwater (stormwater and river discharge) and associated dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to estuaries and the coastal ocean, affecting water quality, and carbon budgets. Hurricane Harvey produced an unprecedented 1000-year flood event in 2017 that inundated the heavily urbanized and industrialized Houston/Galveston region (TX, United States). Within a week, storm-associated floodwater delivered 87 ± 18 Gg of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (tDOC) to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico continental shelves. In situ decay constants of 8.75–28.33 year−1 resulted in the biomineralization of ∼70% of tDOC within 1 month of discharge from the flood plain. The high removal efficiency of tDOC was linked to a diverse microbial community capable of degrading a wide repertoire of dissolved organic matter (DOM), and suggested hurricane-induced flood events affect net CO2 exchange and nutrient budgets in estuarine watersheds and coastal seas.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Frontiers in Marine Science

• Publication date

  2020-03-23

• Fields of study

  Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fmars.2020.00248
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Microbial, Physical, and Chemical Changes in Galveston Bay Following an Extreme Flooding Event, Hurricane Harvey

  2020influential reference
• Extreme weather events modulate processing and export of dissolved organic carbon in the Neuse River Estuary, NC

  2019cited by this paper
• Massive pollutants released to Galveston Bay during Hurricane Harvey: Understanding their retention and pathway using Lagrangian numerical simulations.

  2019cited by this paper
• Convergence of Terrestrial Dissolved Organic Matter Composition and the Role of Microbial Buffering in Aquatic Ecosystems

  2019cited by this paper
• Dramatic hydrodynamic and sedimentary responses in Galveston Bay and adjacent inner shelf to Hurricane Harvey.

  2019cited by this paper
• Corrigendum to "Dramatic hydrodynamic and sedimentary responses in Galveston Bay and adjacent inner shelf to hurricane Harvey" [Sci. Total Environ. 653 (2019), 554-564].

  2019influential reference
• Impacts of Urbanization and Development on Estuarine Ecosystems and Water Quality

  2019cited by this paper
• Recent increase in catastrophic tropical cyclone flooding in coastal North Carolina, USA: Long-term observations suggest a regime shift

  2019cited by this paper
• Lingering Carbon Cycle Effects of Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina's Coastal Waters

  2019cited by this paper
• Ultralow Sample Volume Cupric Sulfate Oxidation Method for the Analysis of Dissolved Lignin.

  2018influential reference
• A rapid and sensitive method for the analysis of lignin phenols in environmental samples using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring.

  2018cited by this paper
• Elevated levels of pathogenic indicator bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes after hurricane Harvey’s Flooding in Houston

  2018cited by this paper
• Hurricane Harvey Links to Ocean Heat Content and Climate Change Adaptation

  2018cited by this paper
• Carbon Budget of Tidal Wetlands, Estuaries, and Shelf Waters of Eastern North America

  2018cited by this paper
• Increased hurricane frequency near Florida during Younger Dryas Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slowdown

  2017cited by this paper
• Isolation of High-Molecular-Weight DNA Using Organic Solvents.

  2017cited by this paper
• Observed fingerprint of a weakening Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation

  2017cited by this paper
• During a winter of storms in a small UK catchment, hydrology and water quality responses follow a clear rural-urban gradient

  2017cited by this paper
• Origins and transformations of dissolved organic matter in large Arctic rivers

  2017cited by this paper
• Organic matter compositions of rivers draining into Hudson Bay: Present‐day trends and potential as recorders of future climate change

  2017cited by this paper
• Assessing the present and future probability of Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall

  2017cited by this paper
• The fate of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon on the Eurasian shelves and export to the North Atlantic

  2017cited by this paper
• Every base matters: assessing small subunit rRNA primers for marine microbiomes with mock communities, time series and global field samples.

  2016cited by this paper
• Riverine Bacterial Communities Reveal Environmental Disturbance Signatures within the Betaproteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia

  2016cited by this paper
• Human influence on tropical cyclone intensity

  2016cited by this paper
• Time scales in Galveston Bay: An unsteady estuary

  2016cited by this paper
• Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding - A Global Assessment

  2015cited by this paper
• Improved Bacterial 16S rRNA Gene (V4 and V4-5) and Fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer Marker Gene Primers for Microbial Community Surveys

  2015cited by this paper
• The ecology of the microbiome: Networks, competition, and stability

  2015cited by this paper
• Increased record-breaking precipitation events under global warming

  2015cited by this paper
• Pulsed, cross-shelf export of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon to the Gulf of Mexico

  2014influential reference
• Fast and sensitive protein alignment using DIAMOND

  2014cited by this paper
• MEGAHIT: an ultra-fast single-node solution for large and complex metagenomics assembly via succinct de Bruijn graph

  2014cited by this paper
• Extensive CO2 emissions from shallow coastal waters during passage of Hurricane Irene (August 2011) over the Mid‐Atlantic Coast of the U.S.A

  2014cited by this paper
• The fate of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon in a river‐influenced ocean margin

  2014cited by this paper
• The changing carbon cycle of the coastal ocean

  2013cited by this paper
• Anthropogenic perturbation of the carbon fluxes from land to ocean

  2013cited by this paper
• Development of a Dual-Index Sequencing Strategy and Curation Pipeline for Analyzing Amplicon Sequence Data on the MiSeq Illumina Sequencing Platform

  2013cited by this paper
• Enhanced transfer of terrestrially derived carbon to the atmosphere in a flooding event

  2013cited by this paper
• The spectral slope coefficient of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (S275–295) as a tracer of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon in river‐influenced ocean margins

  2012influential reference
• Floodplain influence on dissolved organic matter composition and export from the Mississippi—Atchafalaya River system to the Gulf of Mexico

  2012influential reference
• Fluorescence tracking of dissolved and particulate organic matter quality in a river-dominated estuary.

  2012cited by this paper
• Dissolved organic matter export from a forested watershed during Hurricane Irene

  2012cited by this paper
• Biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River and its tributaries: Seasonality and importance of inorganic nitrogen

  2012cited by this paper
• Field experiment provides ground truth for surface nuclear magnetic resonance measurement

  2012cited by this paper
• Integrative analysis of environmental sequences using MEGAN4.

  2011cited by this paper
• Distribution, degradation and dynamics of dissolved organic carbon and its major compound classes in the Pearl River estuary, China

  2010cited by this paper
• Modeled Impact of Anthropogenic Warming on the Frequency of Intense Atlantic Hurricanes

  2010cited by this paper
• Circumpolar synchrony in big river bacterioplankton

  2009cited by this paper
• Amino acid and amino sugar yields and compositions as indicators of dissolved organic matter diagenesis

  2009cited by this paper
• Introducing mothur: Open-Source, Platform-Independent, Community-Supported Software for Describing and Comparing Microbial Communities

  2009cited by this paper
• Biochemical Composition and Size Distribution of Organic Matter at the Pacific and Atlantic Time-Series Stations

  2009cited by this paper
• Major bacterial contribution to the ocean reservoir of detrital organic carbon and nitrogen

  2008influential reference
• Seasonal and spatial variability in dissolved organic matter quantity and composition from the Yukon River basin, Alaska

  2008cited by this paper
• Lability of DOC transported by Alaskan rivers to the Arctic Ocean

  2008cited by this paper
• Absorption spectral slopes and slope ratios as indicators of molecular weight, source, and photobleaching of chromophoric dissolved organic matter

  2008cited by this paper
• Fractionation of lignin during leaching and sorption and implications for organic matter “freshness”

  2007influential reference
• Hydrolysis‐induced racemization of amino acids

  2005cited by this paper
• Trends and variability in column-integrated atmospheric water vapor

  2005cited by this paper
• Impact of hurricanes on the flux of rainwater and Cape Fear River water dissolved organic carbon to Long Bay, southeastern United States

  2004cited by this paper
• Biogeochemical behavior of organic carbon in the Trinity River downstream of a large reservoir lake in Texas, USA.

  2004cited by this paper
• The biogeochemistry of inorganic carbon and nutrients in the Pearl River estuary and the adjacent Northern South China Sea

  2004cited by this paper
• Conclusions References

  2004cited by this paper
• Photochemical and microbial degradation of dissolved lignin phenols: Implications for the fate of terrigenous dissolved organic matter in marine environments

  2003cited by this paper
• The State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem. 2nd Edition.

  2002cited by this paper
• Molecular indicators of the sources and transformations of dissolved organic matter in the Mississippi river plume

  2001cited by this paper
• Linking diagenetic alteration of amino acids and bulk organic matter reactivity

  1999cited by this paper
• Trends in nutrient inflows to the Gulf of Mexico from streams draining the conterminous United States, 1972-93

  1996cited by this paper
• Sources and reactivities of marine-derived organic matter in coastal sediments as determined by alkaline CuO oxidation

  1995cited by this paper
• The Role of Disturbance in Natural Communities

  1984cited by this paper
• Discussion of the behaviour of nonconservative dissolved constituents in estuaries

  1979cited by this paper
• The characterization of plant tissues by their lignin oxidation products

  1979cited by this paper
• A comparison of three diversity indices based on their components of richness and evenness

  1975cited by this paper
• Lake Water and Sediment: III. The Effect of pH on the Partition of Inorganic Phosphate Between Water and Oxidized Mud or Its Ash1

  1958cited by this paper
• Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Prodigal: Prokaryotic Gene Recognition and Translation Initiation Site Identification Recommended Citation Prodigal: Prokaryotic Gene Recognition and Translation Initiation Site Identification

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Chemical characterization of dissolved organic matter in a hurricane-impacted estuary: linking chromophores, lignin phenols, amino acids and mass spectrometry-based compositions

  2026cites this paper
• Satellite-derived Salinity Dynamics in the Mississippi Sound: A Hurricane Nate Case Study

  2026cites this paper
• Modeling Dissolved Organic Carbon in an Estuary Using Optical Properties and Salinity

  2025cites this paper
• Transition Zones at the Changing Coastal Terrestrial‐Aquatic Interface

  2025cites this paper
• Tropical cyclones enhance net CO2 sink in the Bay of Bengal

  2025cites this paper
• Acute Impacts of Hurricane Ian on Benthic Habitats, Water Quality, and Microbial Community Composition on the Southwest Florida Shelf

  2025cites this paper
• Biogeochemical Response to Tropical Cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean: Understanding and Gray Areas

  2025cites this paper
• The impact of climate change induced extreme weather events on microbial dynamics and public health: an in-depth review on water quality and ecosystem resilience

  2025cites this paper
• Response of a Phytoplankton Community in a Subtropical Estuary to a Pulse Disturbance Driven by a Combo Hurricane and Extreme Rainfall Event

  2024cites this paper
• Capturing the Dynamics of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in Tidal Saltmarsh Estuaries Using Remote‐Sensing‐Informed Models

  2024cites this paper
• Dissolved organic carbon dynamics and fluxes in Mississippi-Atchafalaya deltaic system impacted by an extreme flood event and hurricanes: a multi-satellite approach using Sentinel-2/3 and Landsat-8/9 da.ta

  2023cites this paper
• Neritic larval fish assemblages across the Texas shelf in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Harvey

  2023cites this paper
• An Assessment of air-sea CO2 flux parameterizations during tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal

  2023cites this paper
• Connecting coastal wetland microbial community characteristics with soil physicochemical properties across an estuarine salinity and vegetation gradient in Mobile Bay, AL, USA

  2023cites this paper
• Hydrodynamic responses of estuarine bays along the Texas-Louisiana coast during Hurricane Harvey

  2023cites this paper
• Recent increases of rainfall and flooding from tropical cyclones (TCs) in North Carolina (USA): implications for organic matter and nutrient cycling in coastal watersheds

  2023cites this paper
• Tropical cyclones: what are their impacts on phytoplankton ecology?

  2022cites this paper
• Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Microbial Communities in Houston, TX Waterbodies

  2022influential citation
• Record-Breaking Rain Event Altered Estuarine Viral Assemblages

  2022cites this paper
• The Effects of Hurricanes and Storms on the Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Southeastern U.S. Estuary

  2022cites this paper
• Coastal Microbial Communities Disrupted During the 2018 Hurricane Season in Outer Banks, North Carolina

  2022cites this paper
• Rapid changes in coastal ocean microbiomes uncoupled with shifts in environmental variables.

  2022cites this paper
• Functionally diverse microbial communities show resilience in response to a record-breaking rain event

  2022influential citation
• Organic matter composition and inorganic nitrogen response to Hurricane Harvey’s negative storm surge in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas

  2022cites this paper
• Oxygenation of a karst subterranean estuary during a tropical cyclone: mechanisms and implications for the carbon cycle

  2022influential citation
• Ocean Acidification in the Gulf of Mexico: Drivers, Impacts, and Unknowns

  2022cites this paper
• Tropical cyclone-induced coastal acidification in Galveston Bay, Texas

  2022cites this paper
• Environmental Flow Requirements of Estuaries: Providing Resilience to Current and Future Climate and Direct Anthropogenic Changes

  2021cites this paper
• Pico‐ and nanoplankton communities on a near to offshore transect along the continental shelf of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey

  2021cites this paper
• Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in a subtropical estuary (Galveston Bay, USA) and the impact of Hurricane Harvey

  2021influential citation
• Recent increases of rainfall and flooding from tropical cyclones (TCs) in North Carolina (USA): implications for organic matter and nutrient cycling in coastal watersheds

  2020cites this paper
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and putative PAH-degrading bacteria in Galveston Bay, TX (USA), following Hurricane Harvey (2017)

  2020cites this paper