Journal article
Nitrate on a Slow Decline: Watershed Water Quality Response during Two Decades of Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem Reconstruction in Iowa
Journal of environmental quality, Vol.48(3), pp.579-585
05/01/2019
DOI: 10.2134/jeq2018.07.0258
PMID: 31180425
Abstract
The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge was established as a tallgrass prairie ecosystem reconstruction in the Walnut Creek watershed (5238 ha), Jasper County, Iowa, with >1200 ha of prairie plantings initiated between 1993 and 2006. This study updates the documented decreases in watershed NO3-N losses that accompanied this change in land cover to a 20-yr record. Annual flow-weighted NO3-N concentrations declined by 0.15 mg NO3-N L-1 yr(-1), which was not significantly different from the rate of 0.07 mg NO3-N L-1 yr(-1) reported after the first decade of monitoring. There was also evidence (p < 0.1) that prairie reconstruction led to a declining trend in annual watershed water yield, which would have contributed to the trend of decreasing NO3-N loads. However, variability in climate, including 2 yr with significant flooding events followed by a major drought during the second decade of monitoring, challenged any notion that a watershed water quality record will stabilize even >10 yr after a substantial change in land cover, in this naturally drained watershed underlain by fine grained glacial deposits that exhibit multidecadal groundwater transport times. Efforts to document progress toward water quality goals will need to consider dominant flow paths and associated travel times, uncertainty in the effectiveness of management changes, and a changeable climate.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Nitrate on a Slow Decline: Watershed Water Quality Response during Two Decades of Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem Reconstruction in Iowa
- Creators
- Mark D. Tomer - National Laboratory for Agriculture and the EnvironmentKeith E. Schilling - Iowa Geological SurveyUniv. of Iowa, Institute of Hydraulics ResearchIowa CityIA52242Kevin J. Cole - National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of environmental quality, Vol.48(3), pp.579-585
- DOI
- 10.2134/jeq2018.07.0258
- PMID
- 31180425
- NLM abbreviation
- J Environ Qual
- ISSN
- 0047-2425
- eISSN
- 1537-2537
- Publisher
- Amer Soc Agronomy
- Number of pages
- 7
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/01/2019
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences; IIHR--Hydroscience and Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984383916902771
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