Subsurface tile drainage speeds water removal from agricultural fields that are historically prone to flooding. While managed drainage systems improve crop yields, they can also contribute tothe eutrophication of downstream ecosystems, as tile-drained systems are conduits for nutrients to adjacent waterways. The changing climate of the Midwestern US has already altered precipitation regimes which will likely continue into the future, with unknown effects on tile drain water and nutrient loss to waterways. Adding vegetative cover (i.e., as winter cover crops) is one approach that can retain water and nutrients on fields to minimize export via tile drains. In the current study, we evaluate the effect of cover crops on tile drain discharge and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) loads using bi-monthly measurements from 43 unique tile outlets draining fields with or without cover crops in two watersheds in northern Indiana. Using four water years of data (n = 844 measurements), we examined the role of short-term antecedent precipitation conditions and variation in soil biogeochemistry in mediating the effect of cover crops on tile drain flow and SRP loads. We observed significant effects of cover crops on both tile drain discharge and SRP loads, but these results were season and watershed specific. Cover crop effects were identified only in spring, where their presence reduced tile drain discharge in both watersheds and SRP loads in one watershed. Varying effects on SRP loads between watersheds were attributed to different soil biogeochemical characteristics, where soils with lower bioavailable P and higher P sorption capacity were less likely to have a cover crop effect. Antecedent precipitation was important in spring, and cover crop differences were still evident during periods of wet and dry antecedent precipitation conditions. Overall, we show that cover crops have the potential to significantly decrease spring tile drain P export, and these effects are resilient to a wide range of precipitation conditions. 相似文献
The role of hummocky terrain in governing runoff routing and focussing groundwater recharge in the Northern Prairies of North America is widely recognised. However, most hydrological studies in the region have not effectively utilised information on the surficial geology and associated landforms in large-scale hydrological characterization. The present study uses an automated digital elevation model (DEM) analysis of a 6500-km2 area in the Northern Prairies to quantify hydrologically relevant terrain parameters for the common types of terrains in the prairies with different surficial deposits widespread in the prairies, namely, moraines and glaciolacustrine deposits. Runoff retention (and storage) capacity within depressions varies greatly between different surficial deposits and is comparable in magnitude with a typical amount of seasonal snowmelt runoff generation. The terrain constraint on potential runoff retention varies from a few millimetres in areas classified as moraine to tens of millimetres in areas classified as stagnant ice moraine deposits. Fluted moraine and glaciolacustrine deposits have intermediate storage capacity values. The study also identified the probability density function describing a number of immediate upstream neighbours for each depression in a fill-and-spill network. A relationship between depression parameters and surficial deposits, as well as identified depression network structure, allows parametrisation of hydrologic models outside of the high-resolution DEM coverage, which can still account for terrain variation in the Prairies. 相似文献
Bioassesment by the use of the macroalga, Ulva lactuca L., was carried out in the Limfjord, Denmark, to assess the significance of nitrogen and phosphorus as limiting factors for primary production during 1985, 1993, 1994 and 1995 and for the detection of changes in eutrophication levels.
Minimum and critical tissue concentrations for nitrogen and phosphorus in macroalgae were identified. The concentrations of nitrogen were generally below the critical concentration level in June–October in 1985, 1993, and 1995 but in 1994 nitrogen was only limiting for primary production in short periods. Only in early spring in 1985 and 1993 were the tissue concentrations of phosphorus below the critical concentration level, whereas in 1994 up to 3–4 months showed phosphorus limited growth, indicating that significant changes in limitation patterns can occur between different years.
It was concluded that the use of biomonitoring techniques is well suited as a bioassessment method for direct detection and for providing a time-integrated measure of nutrient availability in coastal waters, and thus for assessing ecosystem health with regard to eutrophication. It is recommended that biomonitors and the concept of critical tissue concentrations should be used in environmental management and incorporated in future monitoring programmes. 相似文献