Climate change and human pressures erode habitat preferences of riverine dissolved organic matter

Climate change and human pressures erode habitat preferences of riverine dissolved organic matter | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Climate change and human pressures erode habitat preferences of riverine dissolved organic matter Yifan Cui, Ang Hu, James C. Stegen, Jianjun Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7965468/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Global Change Biology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fluxes of organic matter across Earth habitats shape ecosystem function and carbon storage. Yet, it is challenging to predict how the molecules are preferentially accumulated in specific habitats, i.e. the habitat preferences, due to their diverse characteristics. Here we develop an indicator of compositional-level habitat preference for dissolved organic matter (DOM) by quantifying the aggregated preferences of individual molecules that are over- or under-represented relative to a reference habitat. Applying this indicator to 93 paired riverine water-sediment sites, we find that 65.1% of molecules show non-significant habitat preferences for water or sediment and are thermodynamically favorable and susceptible to microbial degradation. Consistently, the habitat preferences of DOM assemblages decrease with lower molecular weights and recalcitrance for waters, and with higher thermodynamic favorability for sediments. These preferences are both reduced by elevated temperatures and anthropogenic pressures, such as nitrogen loading and land-use change. Further projecting habitat preferences of global riverine DOM show lower preferences in regions with intense anthropogenic disturbances or warm climates, such as East Asia, West Europe, and the Amazon. These findings suggest enhanced molecular homogenization between water and sediment habitats driven by environmental changes and underscore the importance of habitat preferences for predicting organic carbon’s fate. dissolved organic matter habitat preference molecular trait global river environmental change Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files Supplementalinformation.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Global Change Biology → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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matter across Earth habitats shape ecosystem function and carbon storage. Yet, it is challenging to predict how the molecules are preferentially accumulated in specific habitats, i.e. the habitat preferences, due to their diverse characteristics. Here we develop an indicator of compositional-level habitat preference for dissolved organic matter (DOM) by quantifying the aggregated preferences of individual molecules that are over- or under-represented relative to a reference habitat. Applying this indicator to 93 paired riverine water-sediment sites, we find that 65.1% of molecules show non-significant habitat preferences for water or sediment and are thermodynamically favorable and susceptible to microbial degradation. Consistently, the habitat preferences of DOM assemblages decrease with lower molecular weights and recalcitrance for waters, and with higher thermodynamic favorability for sediments. These preferences are both reduced by elevated temperatures and anthropogenic pressures, such as nitrogen loading and land-use change. Further projecting habitat preferences of global riverine DOM show lower preferences in regions with intense anthropogenic disturbances or warm climates, such as East Asia, West Europe, and the Amazon. These findings suggest enhanced molecular homogenization between water and sediment habitats driven by environmental changes and underscore the importance of habitat preferences for predicting organic carbon\u0026rsquo;s fate.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Climate change and human pressures erode habitat preferences of riverine dissolved organic matter","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-29 00:33:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7965468/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"28d1c62d-bbbd-47e9-b43e-a32fae8116a4","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 29th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-09T15:44:35+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7965468","link":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70736","journal":{"identity":"global-change-biology","isVorOnly":true,"title":"Global Change Biology"},"publishedOn":"2026-02-05 00:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 5th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-29 00:33:54","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1111/gcb.70736","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70736","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7965468","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7965468","identity":"rs-7965468","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}