Drainage for forestry increases N, P and TOC export to boreal surface waters

Finér, Leena; Lepistö, Ahti; Karlsson, Kristian; Räike, Antti; Härkönen, Laura; Huttunen, Markus; Joensuu, Samuli; Kortelainen, Pirkko; Mattsson, Tuija; Piirainen, Sirpa; Sallantaus, Tapani; Sarkkola, Sakari; Tattari, Sirkka; Ukonmaanaho, Liisa

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144098

Cited by 55 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The observed mean TOC exports (mean 56.5 kg ha −1 a −1 ) in unmanaged areas were close to previously reported values (mean 62 kg ha −1 a −1 ) based on data collected from 21 to 28 pristine Finnish catchments [23,24,28]. Two of these studies had more catchments than the present study [23,28], but they had no observations from catchments located in the northernmost parts of Finland where the TOC export is typically low.…”

Section: Controls Of Tn and Tp Concentration And Exportsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…The TOC concentrations were increased by drainage intensity as also found by other studies [24]. Drainage is linked to hydrological conditions in the catchment and thus affect leaching [63], resulting in higher leaching of TOC.…”

Section: Controls On Toc Exportsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…This may explain the slightly lower TOC export in unmanaged catchments in our study compared to the previous studies. The third study had observations also from northern Finland and very long time series [24], which could as well explain the differences. In managed catchments, the mean TOC export obtained in our study (79.4 kg ha −1 a −1 ) is within the range reported in other boreal catchments (23-148 kg ha −1 a −1 ) [4,51].…”

Section: Controls Of Tn and Tp Concentration And Exportmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Catchment scale water quality monitoring studies have shown that C, N and P export can vary markedly among both unmanaged [12,23] and managed forests [12,24], implying that part of the variation in water quality can be attributed to factors independent of forest management. Thus, all sources of DOC should be considered in the catchment level management [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, with advancing climate change, it is essential to gain knowledge also on climatic factors affecting the water quality and nutrient export. This knowledge will be useful, as forestry faces new challenges in finding suitable management practices, even more so as current nutrient load assessments in Finland do not account for climatic drivers [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Controls of Organic Carbon and Nutrient Export from Unmanaged and Managed Boreal Forested Catchments

Aaltonen

Tuukkanen

Palviainen

et al. 2021

Water

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Understanding the anthropogenic and natural factors that affect runoff water quality is essential for proper planning of water protection and forest management, particularly in the changing climate. We measured water quality and runoff from 10 unmanaged and 20 managed forested headwater catchments (7–12,149 ha) located in Finland. We used linear mixed effect models to test whether the differences in total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) export and concentrations observed can be explained by catchment characteristics, land use, forest management, soil fertility, tree volume and hydrometeorological variables. Results show that much of variation in TOC, TN and TP concentrations and export was explained by drainage, temperature sum, peatland percentage and the proportion of arable area in the catchment. These models explained 45–63% of variation in concentrations and exports. Mean annual TOC export in unmanaged catchments was 56.4 ± 9.6 kg ha−1 a−1, while in managed it was 79.3 ± 3.3 kg ha−1 a−1. Same values for TN export were 1.43 ± 0.2 kg ha−1 a−1 and 2.31 ± 0.2 kg ha−1 a−1, while TP export was 0.053 ± 0.009 kg ha−1 a−1 and 0.095 ± 0.008 kg ha−1 a−1 for unmanaged and managed, respectively. Corresponding values for concentrations were: TOC 17.7 ± 2.1 mg L−1 and 28.7 ± 1.6 mg L−1, for TN 420 ± 45 µg L−1 and 825 ± 51 µg L−1 and TP 15.3 ± 2.3 µg L−1 and 35.6 ± 3.3 µg L−1. Overall concentrations and exports were significantly higher in managed than in unmanaged catchments. Long term temperature sum had an increasing effect on all concentrations and exports, indicating that climate warming may set new challenges to controlling nutrient loads from catchment areas.

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Section: Controls Of Tn and Tp Concentration And Exportsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Controls On Toc Exportsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Controls Of Tn and Tp Concentration And Exportmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Controls of Organic Carbon and Nutrient Export from Unmanaged and Managed Boreal Forested Catchments

Aaltonen

Tuukkanen

Palviainen

et al. 2021

Water

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Browning of boreal lakes: Do public perceptions and governance align with the biological foundations?

Albrecht

Hannonen

Palacín-Lizarbe

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

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Browning of surface waters, also known as brownification, is a process of decreasing water transparency, particularly in boreal lakes surrounded by intensively managed forests and wetlands. In this paper, we review the ecological consequences and ecosystem-based management (EBM) of browning through a systematic review approach and adopt an interdisciplinary approach to formulating new governance of this complex phenomenon.To understand the effects of browning on the recreational value of freshwaters, we present primary survey data on public perceptions of recreational fishing tourists on water quality in Finland. We identify a need to develop EBM beyond the EU's Water Framework Directive (WFD) to fully account for the extensive implications of browning. We also highlight the need for a better understanding of the within-lake microbial processes to estimate the browning-associated changes in the greenhouse gas balance of lakes.Tourist perceptions of the quality of waterbodies in Finland were largely in agreement with the general proportion of waterbodies classified in a good or excellent ecological status class, but these perceptions may be detached from biological quality assessment criteria. Consequently, we suggest that the EBM of inland waters should improve the utilization of information on not only biogeochemical processes but also users' perspectives on aquatic ecosystems beyond the EU WFD.

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Anthropogenic bottom‐up and top‐down impacts on boreal breeding waterbirds

Holopainen,

Jaatinen,

Laaksonen

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Wetland habitats are changing under multiple anthropogenic pressures. Nutrient leakage and pollution modify physico‐chemical state of wetlands and affect the ecosystem through bottom‐up processes, while alien predators affect the ecosystems in a top‐down manner. Boreal wetlands are important breeding areas for several waterbird species, the abundances of which potentially reflect both bottom‐up and top‐down ecosystem processes. Here, we use long‐term national monitoring data gathered from c. 130 waterbird breeding sites in Finland from the 1980s to the 2020s. We hypothesised that the physico‐chemical state of the waters and increasing alien predator abundance both play a role in steering the waterbird population trends. We set out to test this hypothesis by relating population changes of 17 waterbird species to changes in water chemistry and to regional alien predator indices while allowing species‐specific effects to vary with foraging niche (dabblers, invertivore divers, piscivorous divers, herbivores), nesting site, female mass and habitat (oligotrophic, eutrophic). We found niche and nesting site‐specific, habitat‐dependent changes in waterbird numbers. While the associations with higher phosphorus levels and browning water were in overall positive at the oligotrophic lakes, the numbers of invertivore and piscivore diving ducks were most strongly negatively associated with higher phosphorus levels and browning water at the eutrophic lakes. Furthermore, increased pH levels benefitted piscivores. Invertivore diving duck species nesting on the wetlands had declined most on sites with high alien predator indices. Large herbivorous species and species preferring oligotrophic lakes seem to be successful. We conclude that the large‐scale breeding waterbird decline in Finland is closely connected to both bottom‐up and top‐down processes, where negative associations are emphasised especially at eutrophic lakes. Niche‐, nest site‐ and habitat‐specific management actions are required to conserve declining waterbird populations. Managing wetlands on catchments level together with alien predator control may provide important approaches to future wetland management.

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Drainage for forestry increases N, P and TOC export to boreal surface waters

Cited by 55 publications

References 41 publications

Controls of Organic Carbon and Nutrient Export from Unmanaged and Managed Boreal Forested Catchments

Controls of Organic Carbon and Nutrient Export from Unmanaged and Managed Boreal Forested Catchments

Browning of boreal lakes: Do public perceptions and governance align with the biological foundations?

Anthropogenic bottom‐up and top‐down impacts on boreal breeding waterbirds

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