<p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?????????????????? </span>Stable isotopic analysis of nitrate (¹⁵N/¹⁴N and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O) was used to trace nitrate sources and cycling under undisturbed conditions and following harvest at the Turkey Lakes Watershed (TLW), located near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?????? </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">????????????</span>Bulk precipitation collected biweekly at the TLW from 1995 to 2000 had nitrate isotope values that ranged from +42. 4 to +80. 4&permil; for <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O and -6. 3 to +2. 8&permil; for <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁵N. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>An incubation experiment indicated that the isotopic composition of atmospheric nitrate was not compromised by collection methods whereby unfiltered bulk precipitation samples remain in the collector for up to two weeks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?????????????????? </span>The first direct measurement of the isotopic composition of microbial nitrate produced <i>in situ</i> was obtained by eliminating precipitation inputs to three forest floor lysimeters and subsequently watering the area with a nitrate-free solution. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>Microbial nitrate had <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O values that ranged from +3. 1 to +10. 1&permil; with a mean value of +5. 2&permil;, only slightly higher than values predicted based on the <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O-H₂O of the watering solution used. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span><span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O values of soil O₂ (+23. 2 to +24. 1&permil;) down to a depth of 55cm were not significantly different from atmospheric O₂ (+23. 5&permil;) and therefore respiratory enrichment of soil O₂ did not affect the <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O values of microbial nitrate produced at the TLW. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?????????????????? </span>Nitrate export from two undisturbed first-order stream basins was dominated by microbial nitrate, with the contribution of atmospheric nitrate peaking at about 30% during snowmelt. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>Clear-cutting of catchment 31 in 1997 resulted in elevated nitrate concentrations, reaching levels that exceeded the drinking water limit of 10 mg N/L. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>Isotopic analysis indicated that the source of this nitrate was predominantly chemolithoautotrophic nitrification. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>The <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁸O values of microbial nitrate in stream 31 progressively increased during the post-harvest period due to an increase in the proportion of nitrification that occurred in the summer months. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">?? </span>Despite drastic alteration of nitrogen cycling in the catchment by the harvest, <span style='font-family:Symbol'>d</span>¹⁵N-nitrate values in shallow groundwater did not change from the pre-harvest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">???? </span>Denitrification and plant uptake of nitrate in a small forested swamp in catchment 31 attenuated 65 to 100% of surface water nitrate inputs following harvest, reducing catchment-scale nitrate export by 35 to 80%.

At least 60% of First Nation communities in Manitoba, including the Lake Manitoba First Nation, are in wetland areas.47% of First Nations communities in Manitoba served by facultative lagoons failed to achieve the total phosphorus (TP) concentration of 1 mg/L in proposed regulations for effluent discharge into the environment. The Lake Manitoba First Nation community facultative lagoon system treats domestic wastewater and seasonally discharges effluent into a wetland that connects to Lake Manitoba. This research was performed to estimate phosphorus removal efficiency through the natural wetland during the vegetation growing season.The average TP concentration reduction utilizing the natural treatment area of 1.3 ha was more than 70%, achieving the desired total phosphorus below 1 mg/L.These short-term study results indicate the potential of natural wetland treatment applications under cold continental climate conditions, as an effluent polishing step to satisfy regulatory requirements for phosphorus reduction in smaller First Nations communities. / February 2017

The wetlands of Louisiana have provided protection against floods and storms for thousands of years. With the construction of the Mississippi River levees and increased urbanization the wetlands are quickly disappearing, thus leaving the area vulnerable to hurricane storm surge. Since Hurricane Katrina, levees have been showcased as the only way of fully protecting southeast Louisiana from floods and storms; however, this is also being accompanied by a push for more funding for coastal restoration. There is evidence that hurricane protection levees and coastal restoration are incompatible. This research examines the implications of levees on the wetlands both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to discover public perception about the impacts of levees in southeast Louisiana by residents most as risk for flooding from hurricane storm surge.

<p>Wetland ecosystems provide many valuable ecosystem services, including carbon (C) storage and improvement of water quality. Yet, restored and managed wetlands are not frequently evaluated for their capacity to function in order to deliver on these values. Specific restoration or management practices designed to meet one set of criteria may yield unrecognized biogeochemical costs or co-benefits. The goal of this dissertation is to improve scientific understanding of how wetland restoration practices and waterfowl habitat management affect critical wetland biogeochemical processes related to greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient cycling. I met this goal through field and laboratory research experiments in which I tested for relationships between management factors and the biogeochemical responses of wetland soil, water, plants and trace gas emissions. Specifically, I quantified: (1) the effect of organic matter amendments on the carbon balance of a restored wetland; (2) the effectiveness of two static chamber designs in measuring methane (CH4) emissions from wetlands; (3) the impact of waterfowl herbivory on the oxygen-sensitive processes of methane emission and coupled nitrification-denitrification; and (4) nitrogen (N) exports caused by prescribed draw down of a waterfowl impoundment.</p><p>The potency of CH4 emissions from wetlands raises the concern that widespread restoration and/or creation of freshwater wetlands may present a radiative forcing hazard. Yet data on greenhouse gas emissions from restored wetlands are sparse and there has been little investigation into the greenhouse gas effects of amending wetland soils with organic matter, a recent practice used to improve function of mitigation wetlands in the Eastern United States. I measured trace gas emissions across an organic matter gradient at a restored wetland in the coastal plain of Virginia to test the hypothesis that added C substrate would increase the emission of CH4. I found soils heavily loaded with organic matter emitted significantly more carbon dioxide than those that have received little or no organic matter. CH4 emissions from the wetland were low compared to reference wetlands and contrary to my hypothesis, showed no relationship with the loading rate of added organic matter or total soil C. The addition of moderate amounts of organic matter (< 11.2 kg m-2) to the wetland did not greatly increase greenhouse gas emissions, while the addition of high amounts produced additional carbon dioxide, but not CH4. </p><p>I found that the static chambers I used for sampling CH4 in wetlands were highly sensitive to soil disturbance. Temporary compression around chambers during sampling inflated the initial chamber CH4 headspace concentration and/or lead to generation of nonlinear, unreliable flux estimates that had to be discarded. I tested an often-used rubber-gasket sealed static chamber against a water-filled-gutter seal chamber I designed that could be set up and sampled from a distance of 2 m with a remote rod sampling system to reduce soil disturbance. Compared to the conventional design, the remotely-sampled static chambers reduced the chance of detecting inflated initial CH4 concentrations from 66 to 6%, and nearly doubled the proportion of robust linear regressions from 45 to 86%. The new system I developed allows for more accurate and reliable CH4 sampling without costly boardwalk construction. </p><p>I explored the relationship between CH4 emissions and aquatic herbivores, which are recognized for imposing top-down control on the structure of wetland ecosystems. The biogeochemical consequences of herbivore-driven disruption of plant growth, and in turn, mediated oxygen transport into wetland sediments, were not previously known. Two growing seasons of herbivore exclusion experiments in a major waterfowl overwintering wetland in the Southeastern U.S. demonstrate that waterfowl herbivory had a strong impact on the oxygen-sensitive processes of CH4 emission and nitrification. Denudation by herbivorous birds increased cumulative CH4 flux by 233% (a mean of 63 g CH4 m-2 y-1) and inhibited coupled nitrification-denitrification, as indicated by nitrate availability and emissions of nitrous oxide. The recognition that large populations of aquatic herbivores may influence the capacity for wetlands to emit greenhouse gases and cycle nitrogen is particularly salient in the context of climate change and nutrient pollution mitigation goals. For example, our results suggest that annual emissions of 23 Gg of CH4 y-1 from ~55,000 ha of publicly owned waterfowl impoundments in the Southeastern U.S. could be tripled by overgrazing. </p><p>Hydrologically controlled moist-soil impoundment wetlands provide critical habitat for high densities of migratory bird populations, thus their potential to export nitrogen (N) to downstream waters may contribute to the eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. To investigate the relative importance of N export from these built and managed habitats, I conducted a field study at an impoundment wetland that drains into hypereutrophic Lake Mattamuskeet. I found that prescribed hydrologic drawdowns of the impoundment exported roughly the same amount of N (14 to 22 kg ha-1) as adjacent fertilized agricultural fields (16 to 31 kg ha-1), and contributed approximately one-fifth of total N load (~45 Mg N y-1) to Lake Mattamuskeet. Ironically, the prescribed drawdown regime, designed to maximize waterfowl production in impoundments, may be exacerbating the degradation of habitat quality in the downstream lake. Few studies of wetland N dynamics have targeted impoundments managed to provide wildlife habitat, but a similar phenomenon may occur in some of the 36,000 ha of similarly-managed moist-soil impoundments on National Wildlife Refuges in the southeastern U.S. I suggest early drawdown as a potential method to mitigate impoundment N pollution and estimate it could reduce N export from our study impoundment by more than 70%.</p><p>In this dissertation research I found direct relationships between wetland restoration and impoundment management practices, and biogeochemical responses of greenhouse gas emission and nutrient cycling. Elevated soil C at a restored wetland increased CO2 losses even ten years after the organic matter was originally added and intensive herbivory impact on emergent aquatic vegetation resulted in a ~230% increase in CH4 emissions and impaired N cycling and removal. These findings have important implications for the basic understanding of the biogeochemical functioning of wetlands and practical importance for wetland restoration and impoundment management in the face of pressure to mitigate the environmental challenges of global warming and aquatic eutrophication.</p> / Dissertation

The New Madrid Seismic Zone is well known for its historical seismicity, most notably the 1811-12 New Madrid, MO earthquakes and to a lesser extent the 1895 Charlston, MO earthquake. It has been 124 years since an earthquake larger than M 5.1 occurred in the area. The debate of whether the New Madrid Seismic Zone is an active system or a system in decline has remained a contentious topic when interpreting the intricacies and challenges of an intraplate seismic system. This thesis focuses on an overlooked parameter in the already complex issue regarding the seismic hazard of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. In the early part of the 20th century the Little River Drainage District excavated 9.7 x 109 metric tons of overburden and drained approximately 5000 km2 from within the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Our model demonstrates that the Little River Drainage District resulted in a likely perturbation of the seismic system. The overburden removal, coupled with a reduction of the water column has moved the system away from failure when interpreted in the context of regional stress orientation in relation to the geographic orientation of the Little River Drainage District. This potentially explains the apparent lack of moderate to large events over the past century in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, 2016. / Mining and associated anthropogenic activities have improved the livelihoods and economy of many countries but negatively impacted the environment and caused detrimental effects on fresh and ground water systems through the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD). The study evaluated three macrophyte species of P. communis, S.corymbosus and T. capensis for uptake of Mg, P, S, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Pb in acid mine drainage polluted water. The concentration of elements was also determined in sediments and water so as to calculate the bioconcentration and translocation factors in various parts of the macrophtes. The homogenised plant samples were milled using a Fritsch Pulverisette 6 Mill into pulverized powder and element analysis was done using Spectroscout Geo+ XRF Analyzer Pro. Sediment samples were digested with microwave assisted extraction and analysed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Water samples were analysed directly using ICP-OES after filteration with ICP-OES. The concentration levels of these elements in water were compared in all the sites to determine which section of the site (inflow, midflow and outflow) have high amount of the selected elements. The results indicated that elements distribution varied in all the points where the water samples were collected. The concentration level of sediment was compared to the concentration levels of elements in the roots, rhizomes and leaves to determine the translocation and bio concentration factor (TC and BCF). Drinking water quality standards by international organisations were also used as a guideline to compare the concentration levels of elements found in water. Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn) and Copper (Cu) to determine whether their concentrations in the water were above or below the acceptable levels. the concentrations of Fe, Ni, Mn and Cu were found to be above the international water quality standards for drinking water and their average concentrations was 2230, 282, 5950 and 14080 μg/l respectively. The study found out that in autumn, Mg, S, P, and Mo were highly accumulated by leaves of T. capensis, S. Corymbosus leaves and rhizomes as well as the P. communis leaves and the highest concentrations were 6.61, 72900, 2.00 μg/g respectively. In autumn, Co was the only element highly accumulated by the roots of T. capensis with the highest concentration of 342.80 μg/g. On the other hand, Cr and Fe, was highly accumulated by S. corymbosus roots with the highest concentration of 279.20 and 10.03 μg/g in summer. In summer, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb were highly accumulated by the roots of P. communis and the concentrations were 279.20, 39390, 204.10, 299.50, 813.80 and 47.5 μg/g respectively. The results show that although the plant species accumulated the elements in various concentrations, there was no plant species that accumulated all the selected elements in higher concentrations than the other plant species. They all accumulated a variety of elements in varying amounts and stored them in their different parts. Finally, in all the three plant species analysed, the leaves were the best accumulator of Mg, S, and Mo, whilst the roots were the best accumulators of Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb. Since the translocation and bioconcentration factors showed that the macrophyte species accumulated higher concentrations of elements than water and sediments, they can be regarded as hyperaccumulators. Macrophytes species can uptake and accumulate in their different parts various elements and they have the potential to clean the heavy metal polluted sites due to their phytostabilisation and phytoextraction abilities. / LG2017

Thesis advisor: Martha Carlson Mazur / Rivermouths are dynamic systems characterized by hydrologic mixing, where water, energy, sediment and nutrients from both river and receiving water unite to form a unique yet variable environment. Water levels in these environments are thus defined by, and subject to, streamflow from the river and lake-level fluctuations. Long-term fluctuations in water levels affect hydrogeomorphic structure, as well as wetland structure, distribution, and composition. A better understanding of these dynamics will help us to comprehend the processes that govern changes in wetland area and, thus, the breadth of the ecosystem services that estuarine wetlands provide. To this end, this study examined how wetland plant communities have changed through time in relation to long-term changes in water levels from both river and lake systems, using historic aerial photograph interpretation in three rivermouths on Lake Michigan. Additionally, the observed patterns of historic water levels and streamflows were used to inform our predictions for the future in light of climate changes. Results showed that higher water levels and peak streamflows led to less wetland area; average streamflow did not play a statistically detectable role in rivermouths that had lake-dominated morphologies but was significant in the rivermouth system that was riverine dominated. This suggests that varying rivermouth morphologies respond differently to lake and stream dynamics. Restoration decisions that take rivermouth morphology into account will be important as these systems continue to change both naturally and due to climate or other anthropogenic disturbances. It is important to realize not only the extent to which humans are affecting rivermouth systems, but also the interplay between water levels, streamflows, hydrogeomorphology, and wetland ecology within these systems themselves, so as to better understand the necessary steps for restoration. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Geology & Geophysics Honors Program. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Science.

Water pollution is one of society’s most crucial issues which has a negative impact on water quality. The cleaning of blasted rock materials is a process which produces wastewater containing nitrogen and other pollutants such as heavy metals due to explosives residue from blasting. The release of this wastewater to a recipient could have a negative impact on water quality. In order to counteract contamination of recipients, wetlands can be used. However, there is little knowledge and research of their efficiency in removing such contaminants from wastewater of blasting operations. Therefore, the aim of this report is to study plant’s remediation of pollutants, which is one of the processes involved in wetland treatment systems. This is examined through studying the effectiveness of different wetland-plant combinations’ ability to remove nitrogen and heavy metals in the wastewater. Another aim is to examine the silicon concentrations in the wastewater since silicon can be found from blasted rocks. This is of interest since elevated levels of silicon can act as a beneficial nutrient for crops and could then increase the value of the wastewater. The removal of the aforementioned substances has been studied after one, four and 24 hours through water analysis. Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), slender tufted sedge (Carex acuta) and yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus) were paired together in three different combinations for the study; A, B and C. The result from the water analysis was that the wastewater contained in average 64 mg N L-1, which is considered to be extremely high. For the nitrogen remediation the plant combinations containing I. pseudacorus removed the most nitrogen, 12 %, after 24 hours. Although, the nitrogen reduction was significantly lower compared to other studies. The heavy metal content was more than ten times lower in comparison to the upper limit values and was not reduced significantly by different systems. Regarding the silicon content, it was the same as found naturally in soil and water. The plants did not absorb any silicon, which indicates that the silicon was in a particular chemical form which is hard for plants to absorb. Sedimentation is mentioned as a major remediation process in wetlands, however in this study when plants were not present the result illustrated that the sedimentation probably did not function optimally. This could then demonstrate the importance of plants for other remediation processes. The conclusion of this study is that plants’ reduction of nitrogen in wastewater constitutes of a small part and could affect the function of sedimentation. In addition, according to this study yellow iris could be added to plant combinations to increase the treatment potential of wastewater produced from the cleaning process of blasted rock material, though further studies are recommended.

Submitted by Fabricia Fialho Reginato (fabriciar) on 2015-07-16T23:57:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FabianeBordin.pdf: 5274227 bytes, checksum: 085b99c02f027c2d86bf036f3b44ade9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-16T23:57:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FabianeBordin.pdf: 5274227 bytes, checksum: 085b99c02f027c2d86bf036f3b44ade9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05 / FNMA - Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente / MMA - Ministério do meio Ambiente / SEMA - Secretaria Estadual do Meio Ambiente (RS) / Governo do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul / O lixiviado de aterro sanitário de resíduos sólidos urbanos é resultado da interação entre o processo de biodegradação da fração orgânica desses resíduos e da infiltração de águas pluviais que solubilizam componentes orgânicos e inorgânicos. Para a realização do tratamento do efluente em questão, buscam-se soluções tecnológicas eficientes e de baixo custo, de forma a atender exigências da maioria das comunidades brasileiras. As técnicas usuais para tratamento do lixiviado, principalmente lagoas, apresentam uma deficiência na remoção de nutrientes tais como nitrogênio e fósforo. Neste aspecto acredita-se que unidades do tipo wetlands possam ser uma solução eficaz para o tratamento do lixiviado, minimamente de forma complementar a outros sistemas prévios (aeróbios e/ou anaeróbios). Foram construídos wetlands de 1,8m³, sendo que o gênero vegetal escolhido foi a macrófita Typha. Dois wetlands superficiais foram estudados: um de fluxo horizontal (WH), outro de fluxo vertical (WV) e ainda o branco (WH0). O tratamento do efluente foi feito através da diluição do lixiviado no esgoto em diferentes percentuais de incorporação, de 8%, 16%, 64% e 100% em dois plantios. O primeiro plantio ocorreu durante as estações de outono e inverno e o segundo ocorreu na primavera e verão. Foi estudada a eficiência de remoção de matéria orgânica carbonácea, nitrogênio amoniacal e fósforo do efluente e verificado o atendimento aos padrões de emissão exigidos pela legislação brasileira. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo demonstram boa adaptação na etapa de aclimatação das plantas com 0,5% a 2% de lixiviado no esgoto. Quanto ao tratamento dos efluentes, os resultados demonstram que tanto no primeiro quanto no segundo plantio o WH apresentou maior quantidade de eventos de remoções superiores que os outros wetlands, embora a análise estatística não tenha demonstrado diferença significativa entre os fluxos horizontal e vertical e, entre o wetland com e sem plantas. Para as condições estudadas, a saída das unidades de tratamento ainda não atendem aos padrões de lançamento exigidos pela legislação. Constatou-se nesse estudo que o plantio das Typha nos wetlands deve coincidir com épocas de maiores temperaturas, quando verificou-se os melhores resultados para a remoção tanto de matéria orgânica carbonácea quanto para a remoção de nutrientes. Mesmo para altas concentrações contidas no lixiviado os wetlands, principalmente os de fluxo horizontal, removeram razoavelmente nutrientes. (13% a 56% para nitrogênio amoniacal e de 15% a 67% para fósforo). / Urban solid waste sanitary landfill leachate results from the interaction between the biodegradation process of the organic portion of such wastes and stormwater percolation that solubilizes both organic and inorganic components. In an effort to promote leachate treatment, efficient and low cost technological solutions are sought in order to fulfill the demands of most Brazilian communities. The regularly applied techniques used in leachate treatment, mainly lagoons, present a nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient removal deficiency. In this respect, wetlands are seen as a possibly efficient solution for leachate treatment, at least as a complement to pre-treatment systems (aerobic and/or anaerobic). Wetlands measuring 1,8m³ were built using a macrophyte plant of the genus Typha. Three shallow wetlands were studied: the first with a horizontal flow (WH), the second with a vertical flow (WV) and the third without any plants (WH0). Wastewater treatment was conducted by leachate dilution into the sewage in different added percentages, from 8%, 16%, 64% and 100% in two different plantings. The first planting took place between the Fall and the Winter and the second occurred during Spring and Summer. The wastewater carbonaceous organic matter, ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency was studied and compliance with the standards prescribed by Brazilian regulations was verified. The study results demonstrate a good adaptation during the plants’ acclimation with 0,5% to 2% leachate in the sewage. As for wastewater treatment, results demonstrate that both on the first and on the second plantings WH yielded a higher quantity of more efficient removal events than the other wetlands, even though the statistical analysis did not indicate a significant difference either between the horizontal and vertical flows or between the wetland with and without plants. Under the studied conditions, the treatment units’ discharge points still do not comply with the standards prescribed by laws and regulations. Through this study it became evident that Typha planting in the wetlands must coincide with higher temperature periods, when the best results for both carbonaceous organic matter and nutrient removal were observed. Even for high concentrations present in the leachate, wetlands, particularly the ones with a horizontal flow, proved to remove nutrients in a satisfactory fashion (13% to 56% for ammoniacal nitrogen and from 15% to 67% for phosphorus).

No description available.