Excess phosphorus is often identified as a major factor in the eutrophication of wetlands and lakes. Often attributed to agricultural practices, the specific source of a large part of this excess has been difficult to determine. The term "nonpoint" source is often used to broadly describe the inflow along waterways of significant amounts of this essential plant nutrient and other pollution. This research was intended to determine the effectiveness of using cattails (Typha), a common plant along waterways, as indicators of plant available phosphorus in the soil along these waterways. Two sites in the southern part of Michigan's lower peninsula (45°N,84°W) where cattails grew were systematically examined for phosphorus and certain cattail characteristics. Plant and soil data were gathered in a grid-like pattern to determine both the relationship of paired data and their spatial distribution across each site. One set of data was shown to be significant. At one site, the density of cattails is weakly correlated with Phosphorus concentrations. Of particular importance, the spatial distribution of both variables is also noticeably similar at the site. No significant correlation between other data was shown. There is also no apparent similarity in spatial distribution. Though weakly correlated, we were able to support a hypothesis that a reasonable correlation exists between cattail density and plant available phosphorus at one site. The spatial distribution of these traits are also similar suggesting that cattails may, in some cases, be useful as indicators of excess phosphorus, perhaps better defining its source than “nonprint”. / Department of Biology

Introduction: Phosphorus is an especially scarce element in the aquatic environment, yet it is of vital importance to living organisms: the pyrophosphate bond is the basis of biochemical energy transfer, and phosphate groups make up the backbone of the nucleic acids (Wetzel, 1975). An understanding of phosphorus movements and transformations is thus essential to a study of the biological functioning of a lake. The present report describes a study of phosphorus dynamics inSwartvlei, a lake with an extremely low pelagic primary production rate, in the order of 0,15 gC.m⁻².d⁻¹ (Robarts, 1973; Howard-Williams and Allanson, 1978). The littoral phosphorus dynamics of Swartvlei have been discussed in some detail (Howard-Williams, 1977; Howard-Williams and Allanson, 1978), and what follows is an attempt to quantify the changes in phosphorus concentration occurring in the deeper parts of the lake, which comprise some 57% of the total area.

The objective of this study was to apply the WEND model, a nutrient mass balance model, to the Castor watershed in southern Quebec to evaluate phosphorus movement, storage and export over time. The WEND model was customized to run on a field-scale and then individually applied to 266 fields on the watershed for a 30-year simulation period. Field-specific information for the period of 1997-1999, was used as basic inputs to the model. Climatic information was obtained from local sources. The additional information required to run the model was derived from the literature. Model outputs were analysed at three different levels: (i) the overall watershed impacts, (ii) by cropping system, and (iii) for field management practices presenting a high risk of P losses. Specific outputs examined were: soil test Mehlich-III P, soil P saturation with aluminium, RUSLE soil loss potential and TP export. / The model was used to examine the impacts of crop rotations, fertilizer application and tillage management on TP export. For the Castor watershed, the soil test P increased at a mean rate of 3.71 kg Mehlich-III P ha -1 yr-1, equivalent to a mean input of about 32 kg P2O5 ha-1 yr-1 in excess of plant requirements, assuming current field management practices remain constant. / If TP export is considered the most important parameter in terms of P contamination, crop rotations are a good alternative to continuous corn monocropping under which losses could reach as high as 3.36 kg TP ha-1 yr -1. Crop rotations were shown to be an important management practice that should be more carefully examined when establishing field management practices. Just one year of grassland within a rotation can greatly improve the overall environmental health of a watershed. The management of P inputs is also an important target for improvement, as fertiliser inputs often surpassed plant requirements by two- or three-fold.

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A study was conducted to assess the efficiency of a constructed wetland for sediment and nutrient removal from a riverine source containing non-point source pollution (NPS) in a Nordic climate. The constructed wetland, built near the town of Mystic, Southern Quebec, consists of a sedimentation basin, a sinuous subsurface horizontal flow section and an open water body or pond that continuously receives up to 5% of Walbridge Creek. Flow into and through the system is controlled by gravity. There is a gate on the intake structure, which allows inflow into the wetland to be adjusted, along with three composite weirs; located at the outlet of each section of the wetland. Water samples were analyzed for orthophosphates (PO4), dissolved phosphorus (DP), total phosphorus (TP), ammonium (NH4+) and nitrates (NO3-) The study occurred from May to December 2003 and from May to December 2004. In 2003, there was a 33.6% reduction in TP load from intake to outlet with a retention rate of 2.23 g m-2 year-1. The greatest reduction in TP load during 2003 took place during the summer months (32.2%). In 2004, there was a further reduction of 42.8% in TP load from intake to outlet with a retention rate of 1.56 g m-2 year-1 compared to 2003. The largest reduction in TP load during the operational year of 2004 took place during the summer months (43.7%). Within the wetland, both the submerged flow section and open water basin showed similar and significant reductions of TP load in 2003 and 2004 annually and seasonally. Both annually and seasonally in 2003, NO3- showed no significant decrease in load from intake to outlet or within portions of the wetland. In 2004, there was a 22% annual load reduction from intake to outlet with a retention rate of 43.9 g m-2 year-1. The largest reduction in NO3- load during 2004 took place during the summer months (25.6%). Within the wetland, the submerged flow section showed the greatest reduction in NO3- concentrations annually and during the summer months of 2004. These results confirm the range of treatment efficiencies that can be achieved using a constructed wetland for NPS pollution in a Nordic climate.

Two tile-drained agricultural fields in the Pike River watershed of Southern Quebec were instrumented in October 2000 to monitor phosphorus and nitrate concentrations in surface runoff and tile drainage. Data collected from these sites were used as the primary input to test a GIS-based hydrological and water quality simulation model (ArcView SWAT2000) at the field scale. Surface runoff, subsurface flow, sediment yield, nitrate loads and phosphorus loads were the principal parameters evaluated by the model. The SWAT model was calibrated using data collected in the year 2002 while 2003 data was used for validating the model. Particulate phosphorus and total dissolved phosphorus loads in streamflow were also simulated using SWAT and compared with field measurements. / A sensitivity analysis showed that curve number, available soil water content and soil evaporation factors significantly influenced water yield simulations while model performance for water quality parameters was governed mainly by the accuracy of simulating field operations such as fertilization and tillage. The monthly coefficients of performance after calibration ranged from being very good for some parameters (0.27 to 0.66 for total water yield; 0.38 to 0.67 for total phosphorus; and 0.23 to 0.89 for sediments) to being inconsistent for others (0.44 to 2.28 for subsurface flow; 0.63 to 4.36 for surface runoff; and 0.66 to 1.35 for total nitrate loads). Overall, it was found that SWAT results on a seasonal scale were generally more reliable whereas daily or monthly simulations could be improved by using a longer calibration period or incorporating model changes. Short-term impacts of implementing different best management practices for tillage, crop rotation and fertilization were also evaluated using the validated SWAT model. It was found that conservation tillage of corn coupled with pasture or soybean rotations can reduce total phosphorus loads in the range of 25-50% over conventional tillage with corn.

The purpose of this study was to determine how much phosphorus could be lost from soils in Quebec. Samples of four soil series and 3 sediment samples from the St. Esprit watershed, Quebec, Canada were treated with KH2PO 4 solutions of 0, 50,100, and 500 mg kg--1 of soil. The relationship between water-extractable phosphorus (soluble phosphorus) and Mehlich III available phosphorus was determined at water: soil ratios 100:1, 200:1, 500:1. Measurements were made on a LACHAT QuickChem AE instrument (based on EPA method 365.3; USEPA, 1983) after 4 hours of shaking. More than 90% of the soluble phosphorus was released after 3 hours of shaking for all the soil samples and the sediment sample. Therefore, the shaking time for release of soluble P was set at 4 hours for all soil groups of the watershed. Mehlich III extractable phosphorus was also determined for each soil and sediment sample. Using a modified form of a well-known equation, it was possible to show that, with appropriate values for the constants, linear relationships exist between the logarithm of soluble phosphorus and the logarithm of Mehlich III extractable phosphorus at different water soil ratios. This was true for all soil groups and the sediment sample. Thus, given the soil type of a particular watershed, and using the linear relationship (isotherm) for that type, it becomes possible to predict the phosphorus yields from agricultural lands with reasonable confidence.

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