Nitrogen Removal and the Fate of Nitrate in Riparian Buffer Zones PDF Download

Author: Fleur Elizabeth Matheson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: A. R. Burk
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781594543838
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Ecology is the study of the interrelationships between organisms and their environment, including the biotic and abiotic components. There are at least six kinds of ecology: ecosystem, physiological, behavioural, population, and community. Specific topics include: Acid Deposition, Acid Rain Revisited, Biodiversity, Biocomplexity, Carbon Sequestration in Soils, Coral Reefs, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Fire Ecology, Floods, Global Climate Change, Hypoxia, and Invasion. This new book presents new research on aquatic ecosystems from around the world.

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Languages : en
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Nonpoint source contributions of nitrogen, particularly from agriculture, have become a serious concern for many watersheds in North Carolina. Recent regulatory action has increased the implementation of various best management practices (BMPs), particularly riparian buffer zones, for the purpose of reducing groundwater NO3-N pollution. However, the best design for such buffers has been the subject of great debate. The objectives of this project were to evaluate the relative effects of buffer vegetation and width on groundwater NO3-N removal and to determine if denitrification was the process most responsible. The main project consisted of four identically-designed buffer replications located on a farm in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. The influence of vegetative type on buffer NO3-N concentration decreases were as follows; trees had an average decrease of 57% (from 8.79 to 3.78 mg NO3-N L-1), fescue had a decrease of 40% (from 6.33 to 3.77 mg NO3-N L-1), switchgrass had a decrease of 44% (from 5.52 to 3.09 mg NO3-N L-1), native vegetation had a decrease of 37% (from 6.47 to 4.07 mg NO3-N L-1), and the no-buffer control had a decrease of 27% (from 4.93 to 3.62 mg NO3-N L-1). These calculations are averages for each vegetation type from all of the wells from both widths and depths from all four buffer replications. For the 8 m buffer width, a total average NO3-N concentration decrease of 12% (from 9.97 to 8.75 mg NO3-N L-1) was observed for the intermediate well depth, while a 54% (from 5.26 to 2.41 mg NO3-N L-1) was observed for the deep well depth. For the 15 m buffer width, a total average NO3-N concentration decrease of 59% (from 6.42 to 2.61 mg NO3-N L-1) was observed for the intermediate well depth, while a 75% (from 4.31 to 1.06 mg NO3-N L-1) was observed for the deep well depth. Despite these apparent observed differences in the NO3-N concentration decreases, there were no overall statistically significant differences (p>0.05) between any of the veg.

Author: Stephanie Parkyn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buffer zones (Ecosystem management)
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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The purpose of this report is to review and summarise published research on the efficiency and management of riparian buffer zones (RBZ) with respect to the attenuation of sediment and nutrients, and biodiversity enhancement. While there have been numerous studies on the efficiency of RBZ with respect to sediment and nutrients, many of these studies have been small-scale and site-specific. Therefore, a review of these studies needs to consider an assessment of the catchment scale factors that influence the effectiveness of RBZ in attenuating catchment loads.

Author: Stefan Schmutz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319732501
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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This open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided. Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation and damming. Fundamental knowledge of ecosystem structure and function is necessary to understand how human acitivities interfere with natural processes and which interventions are feasible to rectify this. Modern water legislation strives for sustainable water resource management and protection of important habitats and species. However, decision makers would benefit from more profound understanding of ecosystem degradation processes and of innovative methodologies and tools for efficient mitigation and restoration. The book provides best-practice examples of sustainable river management from on-site studies, European-wide analyses and case studies from other parts of the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, conservation and restoration, to postgraduate students, to institutions involved in water management, and to water related industries.

Author: Sarah Connor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Riparian zones have been widely reported to function as effective buffers, removing nitrate (NO3-) from groundwater before it is discharged into adjacent streams. This is particularly important in agricultural catchments where additional nitrogen (N) from fertilisers may be leached into groundwater. On coastal plains, NO3- in groundwater discharged into streams can potentially enrich coastal waters. The permanent removal of NO3- through denitrification can improve water quality, however incomplete denitrification produces nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas.Despite copious research in temperate regions, little study has been conducted on the capacity of riparian zones to remove NO3- from groundwater in the tropics. In agricultural areas of the Australian humid tropics, annual rainfall is high, around 3000 mm, and wet and dry seasons are clearly defined. Wet seasons are characterised by rainfall of high intensity and duration, followed by a dry season producing sporadic small amounts of rainfall. The overarching questions of this thesis are: in an agricultural landscape in the humid tropics, is NO3- in groundwater removed as it enters a forested riparian zone and is transported towards the stream? And, are there temporal and spatial differences in patterns of N2O emissions produced from the riparian forest?This research is focused on a forested riparian zone 150 m wide, located amongst sugarcane fields, on the coastal plain adjoining the World-Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef lagoon, in the Australian humid tropics. To gain an understanding of the movement of groundwater through the riparian site, the hydrology of the riparian zone was characterized using measurements of soil water content and water table depth (13 piezometers). In the wet season the system was highly dynamic with large fluctuations in water table levels and long-term inundation of low lying areas. Rapid water table rises were attributed to high in-situ recharge, low air-filled pore space (unsaturated zone), air entrapment and occasional recharge from the creek, and the rapid falls to the steep local hydraulic gradients. The dry season was characterised by a slow moving system with depth to watertable up to 4 m at high locations.Groundwater entering the riparian zone was found to have low concentrations of NO3- (mean

Author: Marten Scheffer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402031548
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Ecology of Shallow Lakes brings together current understanding of the mechanisms that drive the diametrically opposite states of water clarity, shown by the cover paintings, found in many shallow lakes and ponds. It gives an outline of the knowledge gained from field observations, experimental work, and restoration studies, linked by a solid theoretical framework. The book focuses on shallow lakes, but the lucid treatment of plankton dynamics, resuspension, light climate and the role of vegetation is relevant to a much wider range of aquatic systems. The models that are used remain simple and most analyses are graphical rather than algebraic. The text will therefore appeal to students, scientists and policy makers in the field of ecology, fisheries, pollution studies and water management, and also to theoreticans who will benefit from the many real-world examples of topics such as predation and competition theory, bifurcation analysis and catastrophe theory. Perhaps most importantly, the book is a remarkable example of how large field experiments and simple models can catalyze our insight into complex ecosystems. Marten Scheffer wrote this book while at the Institute of Inland Water Management and Waste Treatment, RIZA, Lelystad, The Netherlands. He is currently at the Department of Water Quality Management and Aquatic Ecology of the Wageningen Agricultural University. Reviews `Much rarer are textbooks that so succinctly sum up the state-of-the-art knowledge about a subject that they become instant `bibles'. This book is one of these. It is probably one of the best biological textbooks I have read. Scheffer masterfully pulls all this information together under one cover and presents a coherent account, which will serve as a benchmark for the subject. The reader will not gain any great insight into the breeding biology of pike from this book, nor learn much about dragonflies or newts. They will, however, come to understand the essential nature of shallow lakes or, as the author puts it, `how shallow lakes work'. Overall, this book will be of great interest to practical and theoretical ecologists, students and managers in all fields of biology. All freshwater ecologists should certainly read it.' Simon Harrison in Journal of Ecology, 86 `The book by Scheffer can be seen as a milestone in the recognition of shallow lakes as a research topic in its own right. Scheffer uses three approaches concurrently to unravel the functioning of shallow lakes: 1) statistical analysis of large datasets from a variety of lakes; 2) simple abstract models made up of a few non-linear ordinary differential equations, which he calls `mini-models'; and 3) logical reasoning based on a mixture of results from fieldwork, experiments and models. What is new is that Scheffer links mathematics very nicely with what one feels is a correct description of the functioning of a shallow lake. Employing logical reasoning, Scheffer combines all these sources of knowledge into a general, coherent picture of the functioning of a shallow lake.' Wolf Mooij in Aquatic Ecology, 32

Author: Timothy Ryan Wineland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Riparian buffers have been shown to remove nitrate from groundwater, but the processes controlling removal are not well documented. Previous research at the Risdal Farm in the Bear Creek watershed in central Iowa suggests that geology influences groundwater velocity, residence time, denitrification rate, and ultimately how well the buffer functions. The research area for this study is the entire Bear Creek watershed, a 7,656 ha watershed with> 85 percent row crops. A multi-electrode electrical resistivity imaging system was used to characterize the extent and distribution of alluvial materials beneath buffers. Seven locations were selected for further groundwater investigations based on resistivity data and buffer maturity. A method for the construction, installation and monitoring of multilevel piezometers was developed for collection of hydrogeologic data in shallow alluvial sediments. Hydraulic gradient and hydraulic conductivity data from piezometers were used to assess controlling factors on nitrate removal in buffers. Buffers at the JRS, LSW, and TE sites both consistently removed over 95 percent of nitrate. The RRS and LSE sites often had little effect on nitrate removal, but occasionally achieved much higher removal rates. Nitrate removal was favored in locations with available dissolved organic carbon and low groundwater velocities (long residence time). Lack of dissolved oxygen in these locations suggests denitrifcation as the removal mechanism. Based on data from the 6 sites, the water quality benefits of buffers are most dependent on geology, groundwater residence time and geochemical environment and least dependent on the age of the buffer.

Author: Justin Victor Remais
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Author: United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. New England Division
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Riparian ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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