Modeling land-based nitrogen loads from groundwater-dominated agricultural watersheds to estuaries to inform nutrient reduction planning

Jiang, Yefang; Nishimura, Peter; Heuvel, Michael R. van den; MacQuarrie, Kerry T.B.; Crane, Cindy S.; Xing, Zisheng; Raymond, Bruce G.; Thompson, B.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.07.033

Cited by 36 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Present day PEI is heavily farmed, with ϳ50% of the land area used for agriculture. This results in elevated inorganic nitrogen loading to river systems from fertilizer runoff (Jiang et al 2015;Bugden et al 2014). Owing to the loading, the river estuaries in this study often experience midsummer anoxia and hypoxia (Coffin et al 2018).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith microchemistry and acoustic telemetry reveal anadromy in non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Roloson

Landsman

Tana

et al. 2020

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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This study examined the migratory patterns of introduced rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in three rivers in Prince Edward Island, Canada, using acoustic telemetry and otolith microchemistry. Only 6% of acoustically tagged fish in three river systems left coastal embayments. A cohort of rainbow trout in all three rivers entered saline waters. Habitat use differed among migrants in the three rivers, as Montague River fish occupied estuary habitat (mean 20.79 PSU) more often than West River and Dunk River fish that tended to occupy both riverine tidal (mean 1.27 and 4.29 PSU, respectively) and freshwater habitats (<0.5 PSU), particularly during summer months (July and August). A second cohort of rainbow trout remained exclusively in fresh water. Migratory individuals were more likely to arise from anadromous mothers, but freshwater mothers produced migratory offspring in all sites. Migratory individuals were significantly larger than nonmigratory freshwater residents. This study suggests that partial residency was the primary strategy, with prominent tidal occupation, while secondary marine and freshwater contingents were included in the full range of successful migratory strategies.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith microchemistry and acoustic telemetry reveal anadromy in non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Roloson

Landsman

Tana

et al. 2020

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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“…and phytoplankton are essentially nitrogen limited, and take up inorganic forms of nitrogen rapidly (Valiela et al 1997). In the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, high levels of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer used on potato crops are the primary reason for such high nitrate-N loading rates (Jiang et al 2015). While other studies of multiple estuaries on regional scales have shown nitrogen to be a significant factor in eelgrass presence/absence, this has been presented as modeled water concentrations (Benson et al 2013) that are difficult to compare to loading estimates in the present study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Eelgrass ( Zostera marina ) is the dominant marine plant in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Vandermeulen ). Watersheds in the Southern Gulf often experience intense agricultural land‐use (> 50% of land area) and consequently they are typified by high levels of external nitrogen loading (Bugden et al ; Jiang et al ). Reduced dissolved oxygen, including frequent anoxic events, is observed on an annual basis in many estuaries (Coffin et al ) impacting invertebrate (Coffin et al , ) and fish communities (Schein et al ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Inorganic nitrogen has a dominant impact on estuarine eelgrass distribution in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada

Heuvel

Hitchcock

Coffin

et al. 2019

Limnology & Oceanography

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Eelgrass (Zostera marina) coverage and height were evaluated in 16 estuaries in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, using boat‐based sonar surveys to determine the dominant factors in the decline of eelgrass in the region. Eelgrass coverage was modeled from the sonar surveys and quantified as the percentage of available habitat occupied—with habitat being defined by salinity limits (> 10 PSU) and depth (< 3 m). Estuaries showed a marked variation in eelgrass coverage ranging between 6% and 57% of available habitat, with eelgrass absent in the upper estuary of estuaries with the highest nitrate loading. The Dunk River estuary showed a decline in eelgrass coverage between 1967 and 2014, a period of increasing nitrogen loading. Measures of eelgrass height were not related to coverage endpoints, suggesting that height variables are not suitable endpoints for overall eelgrass health. Analysis of the influence of environmental factors showed that the factor that consistently correlated to eelgrass coverage was nitrate‐N loading while the factor most influencing eelgrass height was light attenuation. A nonlinear logistic loading‐effect model relating eelgrass coverage to nitrate‐N loading indicated that 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90% decline in eelgrass would be expected to occur in response to estuarine nitrate‐N loads of 1.3 kg ha−1 yr−1, 8.0 kg ha−1 yr−1, 50.0 kg ha−1 yr−1, 312 kg ha−1 yr−1, and 1947 kg ha−1 yr−1, respectively. These results suggest that inorganic nitrogen loading is the most significant factor to be addressed by environmental managers when addressing eelgrass declines in estuaries similar to those studied.

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“…Dissolved oxygen was the focus of this study and was continually measured using optical logger technology. Note: N-loading is courtesy of the Prince Edward Island provincial government, based on 2010 land-use layers, and work conducted by Grizard (2013) and Jiang et al (2015). Pressure loggers were deployed in summer 2015 at the same locations as the dissolved oxygen loggers.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of hypoxia on estuarine macroinvertebrate assemblages across a regional nutrient gradient

Coffin

Courtenay

Knysh

et al. 2018

FACETS

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In this study, we examined the effects of dissolved oxygen, via metrics based on hourly measurements, and other environmental variables on invertebrate assemblages in estuaries spanning a gradient of nutrient loading and geography in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. Upper areas (15-25 practical salinity units (PSU)) of 13 estuaries that were dominated by either seagrass (Zostera marina Linnaeus, 1753) or macroalgae (Ulva spp. Linnaeus, 1753) were sampled from June to September 2013. Macroinvertebrate assemblages from Z. marina were found to be distinct from Ulva assemblages for both epifauna and infauna. Small snails dominated each vegetation type, specifically cerithids in Z. marina and hydrobids in Ulva. Although Z. marina had higher species richness, approximately 70% of species were common to both habitats. Faunal communities differed among estuaries with large, within-estuary, temporal variance only observed at Ulva sites impacted by hypoxia and particularly at sites with long water residence time. Indeed, abundances varied by several orders of magnitude in Ulva ranging from zero to thousands of macroinvertebrates. There was a strong negative correlation between hypoxic or anoxic water, 48 h prior to sampling, with relative abundances of amphipods, and a positive correlation with the relative abundances of snails. As one of the first studies to use high-frequency oxygen monitoring, this study revealed probable impacts and the transient nature of hypoxia in eutrophication.

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Modeling land-based nitrogen loads from groundwater-dominated agricultural watersheds to estuaries to inform nutrient reduction planning

Cited by 36 publications

References 38 publications

Otolith microchemistry and acoustic telemetry reveal anadromy in non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Otolith microchemistry and acoustic telemetry reveal anadromy in non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Inorganic nitrogen has a dominant impact on estuarine eelgrass distribution in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada

Impacts of hypoxia on estuarine macroinvertebrate assemblages across a regional nutrient gradient

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