title: Quantifying tropical peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) using UV-visible spectroscopy.
abstract: UV-visible spectroscopy has been shown to be a useful technique for determining dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. However, at present we are unaware of any studies in the literature that have investigated the suitability of this approach for tropical DOC water samples from any tropical peatlands, although some work has been performed in other tropical environments. We used water samples from two oil palm estates in Sarawak, Malaysia to: i) investigate the suitability of both single and two-wavelength proxies for tropical DOC determination; ii) develop a calibration dataset and set of parameters to calculate DOC concentrations indirectly; iii) provide tropical researchers with guidance on the best spectrophotometric approaches to use in future analyses of DOC. Both single and two-wavelength model approaches performed well with no one model significantly outperforming the other. The predictive ability of the models suggests that UV-visible spectroscopy is both a viable and low cost method for rapidly analyzing DOC in water samples immediately post-collection, which can be important when working at remote field sites with access to only basic laboratory facilities.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Landscape & Climate Research, University of Leicester, Geography, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK. Electronic address: sc606@le.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: The Open University, Dept. of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peacock
authors.affiliation: Environment Centre Wales, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, LL57 2UW, UK.
authors.forename: Chris D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: Centre for Landscape & Climate Research, University of Leicester, Geography, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: Centre for Landscape & Climate Research, University of Leicester, Geography, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: Mick J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Whelan
authors.affiliation: The Open University, Dept. of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gauci
authors.affiliation: Tropical Peat Research Institute, Biological Research Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Lip Khoon
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Kho
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D002244:Carbon
keywords: DOC; Sarawak; Spectrophotometry; Tropical peat; Water samples