NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS CYCLING IN MIDWESTERN AGRICULTURAL WETLANDS IN RESPONSE TO ALTERED HYDROLOGIC REGIMES

Abstract

The transfer of nutrients from US Midwest croplands into surface waters causes eutrophication and a decline in water quality. Temporary retention of nutrient-rich runoff in constructed wetlands can help mitigate these negative impacts through physical entrapment and biological transformation of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, with the expectation that wet-dry periods will be more frequent in the region, there is a need to better understand the mechanisms that control nutrient retention and release in US Midwest wetlands constructed on former croplands. In this study, soil cores (30 cm long, 20 cm diam) were collected from two constructed wetlands (4 and 8-yr old), and the surface (0-20 cm) and subsurface (40-60 cm) layers of a cropland where a constructed wetland will be constructed in the future. Soil cores were subjected to either a moist or a dry treatment for 5 weeks, and then flooded with stream water (water depth 6 cm). The flux of nutrients, N2O, cations, and variation in floodwater chemistry (pH and ORP) were monitored for another 5 week period. Porewater was tested during the final 3 weeks of the experiment. Nitrate (0.1-130 mg N m-2 d-1) and inorganic P (Pi) fluxes (0.09-2.9 mg P m-2 d-1) were significantly higher in the dry treatment cores. Regardless of site, the dry treatment also resulted in higher floodwater NO3- concentrations suggesting organic matter mineralization and mineral N build up during the drying phase. However, this initial NO3- release was rapidly denitrified as indicated by the sharp increase in N2O production during that period. In contrast to N, the release of Pi was significantly higher in cores from the cropland. Soil at these sites had higher water extractable Pi and total P. Contrary to the study hypothesis and the results of previous studies, Pi concentration in floodwater and porewater was not correlated with dissolved Fe suggesting that reductive dissolution was not the dominant process controlling P release in US Midwest mineral soils developed from calcareous glacial till. Rather, variation in Ca2+ concentration and its relationship with Pi suggest that dissolution of Ca-containing minerals may be more important and should be the focus of future studies examining the geochemistry of P in these constructed wetlands.