Biogeochemical asynchrony: Ecosystem drivers of seasonal concentration regimes across the Great Lakes Basin

Meter, K. J. Van; Chowdhury, S.; Byrnes, D.; Basu, N. B.

doi:10.1002/lno.11353

Cited by 35 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…denitrification, biological uptake) and release (reductive dissolution) or produce (autotrophic production) DOC. Of the two seasonal NO3-DOC cycles, the most common in our datasets is thus maximum NO3 in-phase with maximum discharge and minimum DOC, which has been reported in Brittany (Abbott et al, 2018b;Dupas et al, 2018) and elsewhere (Van Meter et al, 2019;Dupas et al, 2017;Halliday et al, 2012;Minaudo et al, 2015;Weigand et al, 2017). The main control of seasonal DOC-NO3 cycles appears to be related to hydrological indices (expressed as BFI and W2).…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Temporal Opposition Between Doc And No3mentioning

confidence: 54%

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Spatio-temporal controls of C-N-P dynamics across headwater catchments of a temperate agricultural region from public data analysis

Guillemot¹,

Fovet²,

Gascuel-Odoux³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Characterizing and understanding spatial variability in water quality for a variety of chemical elements is an issue for present and future water resource management. However, most studies of spatial variability in water quality focus on a single element and rarely consider headwater catchments. Moreover, they assess few catchments and focus on annual means without considering seasonal variations. To overcome these limitations, we studied spatial variability and seasonal variation in dissolved C, N, and P concentrations at the scale of an intensively farmed region of France (Brittany). We analyzed 185 headwater catchments (from 5–179 km2) for which 10-year time series of monthly concentrations and daily stream flow were available from public databases. We calculated interannual loads, concentration percentiles, and seasonal metrics for each element to assess their spatial patterns and correlations. We then performed rank correlation analyses between water quality, human pressures, and soil and climate features. Results show that nitrate (NO3) concentrations increased with increasing agricultural pressures and base flow contribution; dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations decreased with increasing rainfall, base flow contribution, and topography; and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentrations showed weaker positive correlations with diffuse and point sources, rainfall and topography. An opposite pattern was found between DOC and NO3: spatially, between their median concentrations, and temporally, according to their seasonal cycles. The annual maximum NO3 concentration was in-phase with maximum flow when the base flow index was low, but this synchrony disappeared when flow flashiness was lower. The annual maximum SRP concentration occurred during the low-flow period in nearly all catchments. The approach shows that despite the relatively low frequency of public water quality data, such databases can provide consistent pictures of the spatio-temporal variability of water quality and of its drivers as soon as they contain a large number of catchments to compare and a sufficient length of concentration time series.

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Section: Interpretation Of the Temporal Opposition Between Doc And No3mentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Some variability in seasonal patterns of dissolved C, N, and/or P concentrations among headwater catchments has been reported (e.g. Van Meter et al, 2019;Abbott et al, 2018b; https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-257 Preprint. Discussion started: 22 June 2020 c Author(s) 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal controls of C-N-P dynamics across headwater catchments of a temperate agricultural region from public data analysis

Guillemot¹,

Fovet²,

Gascuel-Odoux³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…High flow 220 periods can also reduce the ability of biological processes to alter NO3concentrations (Rodríguez-Blanco et al, 2015;Royer et al, 2006). This seasonality of NO3concentration has been previously observed in the Raccoon River watershed (K. Schilling & Zhang, 2004), as well as other agricultural catchments in the Midwest (Dupas et al, 2017;Van Meter et al, 2020;Pellerin et al, 2014).…”

Section: No3concentrations Are Sensitive To Watershed Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…During stormflow periods, NO3concentrations correlated positively with drainage infrastructure density during all seasons, but the correlation was strongest during the spring months when the NO3concentrations were highest ( Figure 3B). During spring precipitation events, water infiltrates rapidly through relatively bare soils, encountering accumulated nitrogen stocks in the shallow subsurface from previous years or early season fertilizer application and is routed off the landscape through tile drains (Van Meter et al, 2020;Royer et al, 2006). High flow 220 periods can also reduce the ability of biological processes to alter NO3concentrations (Rodríguez-Blanco et al, 2015;Royer et al, 2006).…”

Section: No3concentrations Are Sensitive To Watershed Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic regimes drive nutrient export behavior in human impacted watersheds

Gorski

Zimmer

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Agricultural watersheds are significant contributors to downstream nutrient excess issues. The timing and magnitude of nutrient mobilization in these watersheds are driven by a combination of anthropogenic, hydrologic, and biogeochemical factors that operate across a range of spatial and temporal scales. However, how, when, and where these complex factors drive nutrient mobilization has previously been difficult to capture with low-frequency or spatially limited datasets. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed daily nitrate concentration (c) and discharge (Q) data for a four-year period (2016–2019) from five nested, agricultural watersheds in the midwestern United States that contribute nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico. The watersheds span two distinct landforms shaped by differences in glacial history resulting in natural soil properties that necessitated different drainage infrastructure across the study area. To investigate nutrient export patterns under different hydrologic conditions, we partitioned the hydrograph into stormflow and baseflow periods and examined those periods separately through the analysis of their concentration-discharge (c-Q) relationships on annual, seasonal, and event time scales. Stormflow showed consistent chemostatic patterns across all seasons, while baseflow showed seasonally dynamic c-Q patterns. Baseflow exhibited chemodyanmic conditions in the summer and fall and more chemostatic conditions in the winter and spring, suggesting that water source contributions during baseflow were nonstationary. Baseflow chemodynamic behavior was driven by low-flow, low-NO3− conditions during which in-stream and near-stream biological processing likely moderated in-stream NO3− concentrations. Additionally, inputs from deeper groundwater with longer residence times and lower NO3− concentration likely contributed to low-NO3− conditions in-stream, particularly in the larger watersheds. Stormflow c-Q behavior was consistent across watersheds, but baseflow c-Q behavior was linked to intensity of agriculture and density of built drainage infrastructure, with more drainage infrastructure associated with higher loads and more chemostatic export patterns across the watersheds. This suggests that how humans replumb the subsurface in response to geologic conditions has implications for hydrologic connectivity, homogenization of source areas, and subsequently nutrient export during both baseflow and stormflow. Our analysis also showed that anomalous flow periods greatly influenced overall c-Q patterns, suggesting that the analysis of high-resolution records at multiple scales is critical when interpreting seasonal or annual patterns.

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“…coincident with fertilization-during the spring and fall-instead appear to be indicative of the importance of contemporary basin-scale nitrogen loading (Van Meter et al, 2020). Based on empirical observations (Figure 2), if excess fertilizer applications ceased, we speculate that a large portion of the observed water quality impairment would resolve at the time scale of months.…”

Section: Wetland Restoration and Decreased [Tn]mentioning

confidence: 80%

Seasonal watershed-scale influences on nitrogen concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Wine

Golden

Christensen

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Humanity's footprint on Earth systems has engendered water quality impoverishment in streams, lakes, and coastal waters globally. In agricultural areas, stream nitrogen concentrations are often high where excess nitrogen fertilization and wetland loss via artificial drainage degrade water quality. While the watershed-scale influence of fertilization and wetland loss on annual nitrogen loads has been studied, little is known about the watershed-scale effects of these wetland losses at seasonal time scales. Here we apply machine learning and linear statistical analyses in a big data framework to improve understanding of the role wetlands play in influencing the seasonality of down-gradient water quality. We confirm the seasonal role of wetlands in improving water quality at the watershed scale and uncover evidence demonstrating the importance of contemporary watershed nitrogen inputs to in-stream total nitrogen concentrations [TN]. We observe that in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, United States, after the application of spring fertilizers, [TN] drops by 70 % from June to September suggesting the importance of seasonal nutrient loading. Our data mining approach affords exploration of the potential influence of numerous landscape and wetland hydrologic processes on [TN], some of which are shown to exert seasonal influence. Our counterfactual analysis–in which wetlands are restored to their historic extent–points to the substantial water quality benefits of wetland restoration, including particular water quality improvements in the spring when [TN] are highest. Water quality benefits due to wetland restoration would make water safer for human consumption and improve the security of aquatic ecosystems.

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Biogeochemical asynchrony: Ecosystem drivers of seasonal concentration regimes across the Great Lakes Basin

Cited by 35 publications

References 77 publications

Spatio-temporal controls of C-N-P dynamics across headwater catchments of a temperate agricultural region from public data analysis

Spatio-temporal controls of C-N-P dynamics across headwater catchments of a temperate agricultural region from public data analysis

Hydrologic regimes drive nutrient export behavior in human impacted watersheds

Seasonal watershed-scale influences on nitrogen concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin

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