Nutrient Retention by Floodplain Mesocosm Wetlands over Two Years in a Hydrologic Experiment Adjacent to a Eutrophic Lake in the Ohio River Basin
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
6-2019
Abstract
Significant expansion of agricultural land use has been widely recognized as leading to global and regional negative environmental impacts, especially reduced soil fertility and increased eutrophication of surface water systems for the last few decades. Few quantitative studies have been developed on agricultural land that was initially wetland in central Ohio on the potential of restoring the land to wetlands. The importance of regional seasonality and hydrologic conditions on agricultural runoff treatment wetlands is still in need of more investigation. Mesocosm compounds consisting of twenty-eight 379 L Rubbermaid tubs, were constructed in 2016 and planted in October 2016 with the sedge Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani. Started in April 2017, inflow and outflow water samples are collected and analysis for soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate+nitrite (NO3+NO2-N), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total nitrogen (TN) every two other weeks during sampling hydroperiods. River water containing agricultural runoff is pumped weekly into the elevated water feed tank systems, with sampling hydroperiods from April to November. The mesocosms were randomly assigned to a 7x2x2 hydrologic experiment involving 2 water depth and 2 hydraulic loading rates (HLR). Early data in 2017 and 2018 suggest the mesocosms have already become nutrient sinks with a positive removal rate of total phosphorus (33 ± 4% (n = 248) and total nitrogen (40 ± 2% (n = 322)) concentrations. By comparing different water levels, hydraulic loading rates, and soil accumulation in an agricultural runoff treatment wetland system, this research will provide a valuable understanding of wetland mechanisms and dynamics. Moreover, dynamic and spatial mathematical models basing on wetland mesocosm investigations will be discussed and developed to predict the behavior of landscape-scale wetlands. A sustainable wetland-agriculture integration system (we call it “wetlaculture”) will be developed with these restored wetland to reduce fertilizer usage significantly, and eventually benefit farmers with maximizing the value by applying the eco-functions of wetland in the Ohio River basin.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Nutrient Retention by Floodplain Mesocosm Wetlands over Two Years in a Hydrologic Experiment Adjacent to a Eutrophic Lake in the Ohio River Basin, in C. A. Arias, C. A. Ramirez-Vargas, L. Penacoba-Antona & H. Brix (Eds.), 8th International Symposium on Wetland Pollutant Dynamics and Control, Society of Wetland Scientists, p. 81
Scholar Commons Citation
Jiang, Bingbing and Mitsch, William J., "Nutrient Retention by Floodplain Mesocosm Wetlands over Two Years in a Hydrologic Experiment Adjacent to a Eutrophic Lake in the Ohio River Basin" (2019). School of Geosciences Student Publications. 71.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_studpub/71
