Examining Relationships among Sediment and Nutrient Dynamics, Land Use, and Geomorphology

Oxygen, nutrients, sediments, organic matter, and aquatic organisms interact in streams.

Watersheds research assesses and improves the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) for agricultural sediment and nutrient management. Furthermore, land use change may result in geomorphological instability and ecosystem degradation. This project coordinates research in:

stream ecology (e.g., productivity and species diversity),
biogeochemistry (e.g., sorption of phosphorus to inorganic and biological particulate matrices and nitrogen removal/transformation), and
geomorphology (e.g., structure and stability of stream channels; Rosgen).

The Little Miami watershed.

We plan to evaluate, rank, and classify streams in the watershed by their ability to maintain a functional ecological structure in response to sediment and nutrient stressors arising from land use. We also hope to determine if threshold values for sediment and phosphorus loads may be established for different intensities and patterns of land use, and whether dissimilar ecoregional thresholds exist for comparable patterns of land use.

As a scientific control, we will apply our methods to purely agricultural land and agricultural land converted to residential use (e.g., constructed wetlands in La Crosse, WI and OH) in actively managed watersheds. Research will focus on the variability of agricultural stressors, ecosystem response (initially through studies of primary production and community respiration), and structural BMPs that mitigate alterations in surface water hydrology and sediment transport from land use change.

Contact: Joseph Schubauer-Berigan; Matthew Morrison; Christopher Schultz (EIMS#80303)

Office of Research & Development | National Risk Management Research Laboratory

Examining Relationships among Sediment and Nutrient Dynamics, Land Use, and Geomorphology

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