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A bottom-up control on fresh-bedrock topography under landscapes.

ABSTRACT: The depth to unweathered bedrock beneath landscapes influences subsurface runoff paths, erosional processes, moisture availability to biota, and water flux to the atmosphere. Here we propose a quantitative model to predict the vertical extent of weathered rock underlying soil-mantled hillslopes. We hypothesize that once fresh bedrock, saturated with nearly stagnant fluid, is advected into the near surface through uplift and erosion, channel incision produces a lateral head gradient within the fresh bedrock inducing drainage toward the channel. Drainage of the fresh bedrock causes weathering through drying and permits the introduction of atmospheric and biotically controlled acids and oxidants such that the boundary between weathered and unweathered bedrock is set by the uppermost elevation of undrained fresh bedrock, Zb. The slow drainage of fresh bedrock exerts a "bottom up" control on the advance of the weathering front. The thickness of the weathered zone is calculated as the difference between the predicted topographic surface profile (driven by erosion) and the predicted groundwater profile (driven by drainage of fresh bedrock). For the steady-state, soil-mantled case, a coupled analytical solution arises in which both profiles are driven by channel incision. The model predicts a thickening of the weathered zone upslope and, consequently, a progressive upslope increase in the residence time of bedrock in the weathered zone. Two nondimensional numbers corresponding to the mean hillslope gradient and mean groundwater-table gradient emerge and their ratio defines the proportion of the hillslope relief that is unweathered. Field data from three field sites are consistent with model predictions.

SUBMITTER: Rempe DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4020107 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A bottom-up control on fresh-bedrock topography under landscapes.

Rempe Daniella M DM Dietrich William E WE

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20140423 18

The depth to unweathered bedrock beneath landscapes influences subsurface runoff paths, erosional processes, moisture availability to biota, and water flux to the atmosphere. Here we propose a quantitative model to predict the vertical extent of weathered rock underlying soil-mantled hillslopes. We hypothesize that once fresh bedrock, saturated with nearly stagnant fluid, is advected into the near surface through uplift and erosion, channel incision produces a lateral head gradient within the fr ...[more]

PMID: 24760824

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Project description:The relative importance of bottom-up versus top-down control of population dynamics has been the focus of much debate. In infectious disease biology, research is typically focused on the bottom-up process of host resistance, wherein the direction of control flows from the lower to the higher trophic level to impact on pathogen population size and epidemiology. However, the importance of top-down control by a pathogen's natural enemies has been mostly overlooked.Here, we explore the effects of, and interaction between, host genotype (i.e., genetic susceptibility to pathogen infection) and infection by a hyperparasitic fungus, Ampelomyces spp., on the establishment and early epidemic growth and transmission of a powdery mildew plant pathogen (Podosphaera plantaginis). We used a semi-natural field experiment to contrast the impacts of hyperparasite infection, host-plant resistance and spatial structure to reveal the key factors that determine pathogen spread. We then used a laboratory-based inoculation approach to test whether the field experiment results hold across multiple pathogen-host genetic combinations and to explore hyperparasite effects on the pathogen's later life-history stages.We found that hyperparasite infection had a negligible effect on within-host infection development and between-host spread of the pathogen during the onset of epidemics. In contrast, host-plant resistance was the major determinant of whether plants became infected, and host genotype and proximity to an infection source determined infection severity.Our laboratory study showed that, while the interaction between host and pathogen genotypes was the key determinant of infection outcome, hyperparasitism did, on average, reduce the severity of infection. Moreover, hyperparasite infection negatively influenced the production of the pathogen's overwintering structures. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that bottom-up host resistance affects pathogen spread, but top-down control of powdery mildew pathogens is likely more effective against later life-history stages. Further, while hyperparasitism in this system can reduce early pathogen growth under stable laboratory conditions, this effect is not detectable in a semi-natural environment. Considering the effects of hyperparasites at multiple points in pathogen's life history will be important when considering hyperparasite-derived biocontrol measures in other natural and agricultural systems.

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A bottom-up control on fresh-bedrock topography under landscapes.

Publications

A bottom-up control on fresh-bedrock topography under landscapes.

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