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Denitrification and a Nitrogen Budget of Created Riparian Wetlands

Batson, Jacqulyn A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284968767

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environmental Science.
Riparian wetland creation and restoration have been proposed as a means to mediate aquatic nitrate (NO3-) pollution from non-point runoff. Excess nitrate concentrations from the US Midwest are known to cause hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Denitrification by anaerobic microbial communities in wetland soils results in the permanent removal of NO3- through reduction to NO, N2O, and N2. Denitrification rates were quantified using the in situ acetylene inhibition technique at 12 locations in three wetland/riverine sites at the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, Columbus, OH for one year. Sites included two created flow-through experimental wetlands and one bottomland forest/river-edge site. Points were spatially distributed at inflows, center, and outflows to include permanently flooded open water, intermittently flooded transitions, and upland. Annual median (mean) denitrification rates were significantly higher (p<0.001) in flooded zones of the wetlands (266 (415) µg N2O-N m-2 h-1) compared to the transition zones (58 (37.5) µg N2O-N m-2 h-1, respectively). Median wetland transition zone denitrification rates did not differ significantly (α=0.05) from the riverside or upland site. Wetland denitrification rates peaked in spring during the period of highest concentration of nitrate-nitrogen caused by nitrogen fertilizer application and runoff (for the months of April-June, median rates ranged from 240-1010 µg N2O-N m-2 h-1 in the permanently flooded zones). A nitrogen mass balance analysis showed that while 57% of surface water N was retained by the wetlands, only about 2% of N entering the wetlands was permanently removed through denitrification.
William J. Mitsch, PhD (Advisor)
Ulo Mander, PhD (Committee Member)
Li Zhang, PhD (Committee Member)
79 p.
Biogeochemistry; Ecology; Environmental Science; Gases
denitrification; created wetlands; nitrate-nitrogen; riparian marsh; agricultural runoff; Olentangy River Wetland Research Park; nitrogen cycle

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Batson, J. A. (2010). Denitrification and a Nitrogen Budget of Created Riparian Wetlands [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284968767

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Batson, Jacqulyn. Denitrification and a Nitrogen Budget of Created Riparian Wetlands. 2010. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284968767.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Batson, Jacqulyn. "Denitrification and a Nitrogen Budget of Created Riparian Wetlands." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1284968767

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1284968767
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.