Human influence on river nitrogen

Peierls, Benjamin L.; Caraco, Nina F.; Pace, Michael L.; Cole, Jonathan J.

doi:10.1038/350386b0

Cited by 290 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

117

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…3a) in a few parameters in simple, often statistical models (Meybeck, 1982;Peierls et al, 1991;Howarth et al, 1996;Seitzinger et al, 2005;Mayorga et al, 2010). Other hybrid approaches such as SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (Smith et al, 1997)) expand on conventional regression methods by using a mechanistic model structure in correlating measured nutrient fluxes in streams with spatial data on nutrient sources and landscape characteristics.…”

Section: Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient dynamics, transfer and retention along the aquatic continuum from land to ocean: towards integration of ecological and biogeochemical models

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. In river basins, soils, groundwater, riparian zones and floodplains, streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs act as successive filters in which the hydrology, ecology and biogeochemical processing are strongly coupled and together act to retain a significant fraction of the nutrients transported. This paper compares existing river ecology concepts with current approaches to describe river biogeochemistry, and assesses the value of these concepts and approaches for understanding the impacts of interacting global change disturbances on river biogeochemistry. Through merging perspectives, concepts, and modeling techniques, we propose integrated model approaches that encompass both aquatic and terrestrial components in heterogeneous landscapes. In this model framework, existing ecological and biogeochemical concepts are extended with a balanced approach for assessing nutrient and sediment delivery, on the one hand, and nutrient in-stream retention on the other hand.

show abstract

Section: Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient dynamics, transfer and retention along the aquatic continuum from land to ocean: towards integration of ecological and biogeochemical models

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Salt marshes may experience particularly large increases in nitrogen inputs because they occur downstream of entire watersheds, and hence potentially are exposed to nitrogen inputs in runoff, groundwater flow, and stream flow that are concentrated from large adjacent terrestrial landscapes (Peierls et al 1991, McClelland et al 1997, Bowen and Valiela 2001. Because salt marshes provide many valuable ecosystem services to society (Kneib 1997, Bertness 1999, Mitsch and Gosselink 2000, it is important to understand how these nitrogen inputs may alter salt marsh function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most important current issues facing conservation biologists and ecologists is the increased loading of nitrogen to terrestrial and aquatic environments (Peierls et al 1991, Vitousek 1994, Soulé and Orians 2001. The effects of increased nitrogen inputs include alterations to the atmospheric chemistry (Schlesinger et al 2001), reduced water quality in aquatic systems (Paerl et al 1998, Rabalais et al 2002, and changes to ecological processes at the population, community, and ecosystem levels (Vitousek 1994, Heip 1995, Micheli et al 2001.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

McFarlin

Brewer

Buck

et al. 2008

Estuaries and Coasts: J CERF

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examined the response of a salt marsh food web to increases in nutrients at 19 coastal sites in Georgia. Fertilization increased the nitrogen content of the two dominant plants, Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus, indicating that added nutrients were available to and taken up by both species. Fertilization increased Spartina cover, height, and biomass and Juncus height, but led to decreases in Juncus cover and biomass. Fertilization increased abundances of herbivores (grasshoppers) and herbivore damage, but had little effect on decomposers (fungi), and no effect on detritivores (snails). In the laboratory, herbivores and detritivores did not show a feeding preference for fertilized versus control plants of either species, nor did detritivores grow more rapidly on fertilized versus control plants, suggesting that changes in herbivore abundance in the field were driven more by plant size or appearance than by plant nutritional quality.Community patterns in control plots varied predictably among sites (i.e., 17 of 20 regression models examining variation in biological variables across sites were significant), but variation in the effects of fertilization across sites could not be easily predicted (i.e., only 6 of 20 models were significant). Natural variation among sites was typically similar or greater than impacts of fertilization when both were assessed using the coefficient of variation. Overall, these results suggest that eutrophication of salt marshes is likely to have stronger impacts on plants and herbivores than on decomposers and detritivores, and that impacts at any particular site might be hard to distinguish from natural variation among sites.

show abstract

“…Our central assumption in developing this proxy is that water quality is more likely to be an issue where there are more people upstream. Previous research has demonstrated significant and strong correlations between one measure of poor water quality, nitrate concentrations (NO 3 -N mg l -1 ), and population density (Peierls et al 1991). It appears likely that other major water quality problems, whether microbial or chemical in nature (WHO 2008), will be greater in areas with higher upstream population density.…”

Section: Global Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For water quality, we based our categories of people/ha on the analysis of Peierls et al (1991), which quantified a relationship between people/ha upstream and the concentration of NO 3 , a common water pollutant. We acknowledge that the specific empirical relationship documented by Peierls et al (1991) may not hold in all landscapes, but for the goals of our narrative section it is a useful rule-of-thumb for interpreting our proxy variable representing water quality. Finally, for our water delivery axis we used a roughly exponential series of breaks (i.e., 0.5, 1, 10, 100), to span the range of this axis.…”

Section: Management Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Urban Growth and the Geography of Water Availability, Quality, and Delivery

McDonald

Douglas

Revenga

et al. 2011

AMBIO

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, urban growth will add 1.5 billion people to cities by 2030, making the difficult task of urban water provisions even more challenging. In this article, we develop a conceptual framework of urban water provision as composed of three axes: water availability, water quality, and water delivery. For each axis, we calculate quantitative proxy measures for all cities with more than 50,000 residents, and then briefly discuss the strategies cities are using in response if they are deficient on one of the axes. We show that 523 million people are in cities where water availability may be an issue, 890 million people are in cities where water quality may be an issue, and 1.3 billion people are in cities where water delivery may be an issue. Tapping into groundwater is a widespread response, regardless of the management challenge, with many cities unsustainably using this resource. The strategies used by cities deficient on the water delivery axis are different than for cities deficient on the water quantity or water quality axis, as lack of financial resources pushes cities toward a different and potentially less effective set of strategies.

show abstract

Human influence on river nitrogen

Cited by 290 publications

References 6 publications

Nutrient dynamics, transfer and retention along the aquatic continuum from land to ocean: towards integration of ecological and biogeochemical models

Nutrient dynamics, transfer and retention along the aquatic continuum from land to ocean: towards integration of ecological and biogeochemical models

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

Global Urban Growth and the Geography of Water Availability, Quality, and Delivery

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About