Sustainable Phosphorus Management and the Need for a Long-Term Perspective: The Legacy Hypothesis

Haygarth, P. M.; Jarvie, Helen P.; Powers, Stephen M.; Sharpley, Andrew N.; Elser, James J.; Shen, Jianbo; Peterson, Heidi; Chan, Neng-long I.; Howden, Nicholas J K; Burt, Tim; Worrall, Fred; Zhang, Fusuo; Liu, Xuejun J.

doi:10.1021/es502852s

Cited by 173 publications

(135 citation statements)

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“…6a). Annual legacy P contribution to the TP flux displayed an increasing trend (p < 0.01) with a 6.6-fold total increase, which was stimulated by changes in land-use and hydroclimate after long-term excess P inputs Haygarth et al, 2014). Due to legacy P contributions, field studies indicated that even without additional fertilizer application, a decade or more of ''P draw down" from agricultural soil P reserves would be required to substantially reduce P in runoff Sharpley et al, 2013).…”

Section: Riverine Tp Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…It is commonly observed that years with higher precipitation or river discharge export a higher fraction of NAPI via rivers (Borbor-Cordova et al, 2006;Russell et al, 2008;Han et al, 2011a;Sobota et al, 2011;Hong et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2015a), and agricultural watersheds with tile drainage generally export a higher fraction of NAPI (Gentry et al, 2007;Han et al, 2011a;Morse and Wollheim, 2014). In addition, legacy P (i.e., surplus P stored in watershed landscapes that is derived from anthropogenic P inputs in previous years) can be remobilized or recycled after land management change (Meals et al, 2010;Sharpley et al, 2013) or when the degree of landscape P saturation increases after longterm excessive P addition (Kleinman et al, 2011), yielding a considerable P flux to downstream waterbodies Haygarth et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2015a). As a result, changes in hydroclimate and land management as well as legacy P sources have the potential to enhance riverine P flux.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors controlling phosphorus export from agricultural/forest and residential systems to rivers in eastern China, 1980–2011

Chen

Wang

et al. 2016

Journal of Hydrology

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s u m m a r yThis study quantified long-term response of riverine total phosphorus (TP) export to changes in land-use, climate, and net anthropogenic phosphorus inputs to agricultural/forest (NAPI AF ) and residential (NAPI R ) systems for the upper Jiaojiang watershed in eastern China. Annual NAPI AF rose by 73% in 1980-1999 followed by a 41% decline in 2000-2011, while NAPI R continuously increased by 122% over the 1980-2011 period. Land-use showed a 63% increase in developed land area (D%) and a 91% increase in use of efficient drainage systems on agricultural land area (AD%) over the study period. Although no significant trends were observed in annual river discharge or precipitation, the annual number of storm events rose by 90% along with a 34% increase in the coefficient of variation of daily rainfall. In response to changes of NAPI AF , NAPI R , land-use and precipitation patterns, riverine TP flux increased 16.0-fold over the 32-year record. Phosphorus export via erosion and leaching was the dominant pathway for P delivery to rivers. An empirical model incorporating annual NAPI AF , NAPI R , precipitation, D%, and AD% was developed (R 2 = 0.96) for apportioning riverine TP sources and predicting annual riverine TP fluxes. The model estimated that NAPI AF , NAPI R and legacy P sources contributed 19-56%, 16-67% and 13-32% of annual riverine TP flux in 1980-2011, respectively. Compared to reduction of NAPI AF , reduction of NAPI R was predicted to have a greater immediate impact on decreasing riverine TP fluxes. Changes in anthropogenic P input sources (NAPI AF vs. NAPI R ), land-use, and precipitation patterns as well as the legacy P source can amplify P export from landscapes to rivers and should be considered in developing P management strategies to reduce riverine P fluxes.

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Section: Riverine Tp Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors controlling phosphorus export from agricultural/forest and residential systems to rivers in eastern China, 1980–2011

Chen

Wang

et al. 2016

Journal of Hydrology

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“…Improvements in coastal sewage treatment capabilities in the 1980s and 1990s had an even greater impact, accounting for more than half of the decrease in waterborne loads. Losses from the mobile pool also decreased between the 1980s and 2000s, showing that after years of accumulation the mobile pool has shifted to a depletion stage ( Figure 6; Haygarth et al, 2014;Powers et al, 2016).…”

Section: Implications For Eutrophication Managementmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The remainder accumulates in agricultural soils, groundwater, lakes, and rivers along the land-to-sea continuum. These "legacy" sources can leak for decades, leading to time lags between the implementation of nutrient abatement measures and reductions in P loads to downstream water bodies (Haygarth et al, 2014;Powers et al, 2016;Sharpley et al, 2014). Such time lags are generally longer than political cycles and lead to questions about the efficacy of the measures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Century of Legacy Phosphorus Dynamics in a Large Drainage Basin

McCrackin

Muller-Karulis

Gustafsson

et al. 2018

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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There is growing evidence that the release of phosphorus (P) from "legacy" stores can frustrate efforts to reduce P loading to surface water from sources such as agriculture and human sewage. Less is known, however, about the magnitude and residence times of these legacy pools. Here we constructed a budget of net anthropogenic P inputs to the Baltic Sea drainage basin and developed a three-parameter, two-box model to describe the movement of anthropogenic P though temporary (mobile) and long-term (stable) storage pools. Phosphorus entered the sea as direct coastal effluent discharge and via rapid transport and slow, legacy pathways. The model reproduced past waterborne P loads and suggested an~30-year residence time in the mobile pool. Between 1900 and 2013, 17 and 27 Mt P has accumulated in the mobile and stable pools, respectively. Phosphorus inputs to the sea have halved since the 1980s due to improvements in coastal sewage treatment and reductions associated with the rapid transport pathway. After decades of accumulation, the system appears to have shifted to a depletion phase; absent further reductions in net anthropogenic P input, future waterborne loads could decrease. Presently, losses from the mobile pool contribute nearly half of P loads, suggesting that it will be difficult to achieve substantial near-term reductions. However, there is still potential to make progress toward eutrophication management goals by addressing rapid transport pathways, such as overland flow, as well as mobile stores, such as cropland with large soil-P reserves.Plain Language Summary All life depends on phosphorus (P), which is why it is an important crop fertilizer. Humans generally consume more P than needed and the excess ends up in sewage systems. Past management of P in fertilizer and human sewage has led to the accumulation of P in soils and sediments of lakes and streams. This accumulation is called "legacy" P because it can leak for decades to downstream lakes and coastal areas where it contributes to environmental problems. We developed a model to understand P dynamics for the entire drainage basin of the Baltic Sea since 1900. This model included a rapid transport pathway that represented sources such as runoff from cropland and a slow pathway that represented leakage from mobile legacy sources. The model suggests that loss from the mobile pool contributes about half of current waterborne inputs to the sea; as a result, it could be difficult to make substantial near-term reductions. However, there are opportunities to meet environmental goals by slowing the accumulation of P in the landscape and by implementing measures that address the rapid transport pathway, such runoff from cropland, and the mobile stores, such as cropland with large soil-P reserves.

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“…Over the past 50 years, global fertilizer P use has increased 350 %, and food production has more than doubled (Khan et al 2009). Along with this, however, global flows of P have increased fourfold (Childers et al 2011;Haygarth et al 2014), with distinct areas of grain and animal production functioning in geographically disparate, yet cost-efficient systems. The main consequence of this uncoupling of production systems has been a one-way transfer of P (as feed, fertilizer, and manure) to localized grain and livestock production and human consumption and a reduction in the efficiency of P reuse.…”

Section: Sustainable Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering solutions for food-energy-water systems: it is more than engineering

et al. 2016

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physical framework comprised of systems informatics, information analysis methods and tools, and systems analytics and decision support could provide a viable approach for addressing FEW system challenges. A fundamental requirement for implementing the framework is data. Needed data are often difficult to obtain; for example, while much agricultural production system data are collected, the data are not generally available. A priority for addressing FEW system challenges must be development of mechanisms for widespread curation and sharing of data; a few such efforts are underway. Implementing the framework also requires many collaborations. Creating new collaborations among multiple disciplines and organizations to implement the framework could be aided by convergence thinking, which engages approaches to problem solving that transcend disciplines and integrates knowledge from the physical, biological, social, and mathematical sciences and engineering to form comprehensive and integrated thinking at the interfaces of areas. A variety of organizations, private and public, can help in facilitating collaboration and partnerships among the disciplines. Government agencies, industry, academia, and professional societies can all play significant roles in furthering collaboration to address challenges in integrated FEW systems using a systems approach.

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Sustainable Phosphorus Management and the Need for a Long-Term Perspective: The Legacy Hypothesis

Cited by 173 publications

References 6 publications

Factors controlling phosphorus export from agricultural/forest and residential systems to rivers in eastern China, 1980–2011

Factors controlling phosphorus export from agricultural/forest and residential systems to rivers in eastern China, 1980–2011

A Century of Legacy Phosphorus Dynamics in a Large Drainage Basin

Engineering solutions for food-energy-water systems: it is more than engineering

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