Carbon Uptake in Surface Water Food Webs Fed by Palaeogroundwater

The use of 14 C to elucidate sources of carbon within freshwater aquatic ecosystems is challenging the assumption that modern autochthonous carbon dominates energy flows. We measured the uptake of old carbon through several trophic levels of a wetland fed by groundwater of the Great Artesian Basin, Australia, the largest artesian basin in the world. Stable isotopes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) and radiocarbon ( 14 C) were used to quantify food chain...