@ 1979, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. Effect of hydrologic fluctuations on the transport of fine particulate organic carbon in a small stream1

Investigations into the pattern of fine particulate organic carbon (FPOC) concentration and export during periods of rapidly changing discharge in a small, mountain stream revealed maximum values before peak discharge. FPOC was washed out of the stream very rapidly with increasing discharge. A peak in FPOC concentration also occurred at the onset of rainfall during summer storms, before discharge began to rise; rainfall itself rather than increasing flow appeared to be responsible for this early peak. The length of time since the last storm determined, in part, the concentration of FPOC achieved during that discharge event. Small, headwater streams in forested areas are almost totally dependent on in-put of coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM), such as leaf litter from the ter-restrial ecosystem, as an energy source (Teal 1957; Fisher and Likens 1973; Se-dell et al. 1974). Once this material has entered the stream it undergoes biologi-cal and mechanical degradation, mediat-ed by the heterotrophic community of th