Effect of a Water Treatment BMP on Nutrient Spiraling and Leaf Litter Breakdown in an Urban Stream

2008·5.3 MB·English

by  Wheeler, Megan LeClair

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http://archive.org/details/effectofwatertreOOwhee

ColumbusStateUniversity
TheCollegeofScience
TheGraduatePrograminEnvironmentalScience
EffectofaWaterTreatmentBMPonNutrientSpiralingandLeafLitterBreakdowninan
UrbanStream.
AThesisin
EnvironmentalScience
by
MeganLeClairWheeler
SubmittedinPartialFulfillment
oftheRequirements
fortheDegreeof
MasterofScience
October2008
)2008byMeganLeClairWheeler

Ihavesubmittedthisthesisinpartialfulfillmentoftherequirementsforthedegreeof
MasterofScience.
l\o h& >mL_
Date MeganLeClairWheeler
WeapprovethethesisofMeganLeClairWheeleraspresentedhere.
lA/M-
'Date Troy/VP/K.eKlellleerf,f"AAssistantProfessorof
EnvironmentalScience,ThesisAdvisor
Date WilliamBirkhead,ProfessorofBiology,
DepartmentChair
_
hm.
Date JohnDavis,AssociateProfessorofBiology
/

ABSTRACT
Alterationstostreamconditionscausedbyurbanizationcancompromisevaluable
ecosystemservices,suchasnutrientattenuationandcarbonprocessing. Abest
managementpractice(BMP)waterfacilitywasinstalledtorestoreanimpairedurban
streaminColumbus,GA. ThisstudywasconductedtodeterminetheeffectofthisBMP
onnutrientspiralingandleaflitterdecompositionina2kmstretchofWeracobaCreek. I
hypothesizedtheBMPwould(1)reduceleafmasslossovertimeand(2)interferewith
nutrientconcentrationsanduptakelengths. Icharacterizedleaflitterdecomposition
usingtuliptreeleaves{Liriodendrontulipifera)in1mmmeshbagsdeployedupstream(1
site)anddownstream(3sites)oftheBMPfor10weeks(sampledbi-monthly,3
replicatespersite). Ianalyzednitrate,phosphate,andnitriteconcentrationsbi-monthly
(02/15/07-01/10/08)fromthreesub-surfacegrabsamplestakenateachofthefoursites
usedintheleaflitterdecompositionstudy. Leafmasssignificantlydeclinedovertime,
andwasconsistentacrossallfoursites. Nitrateandnitriteconcentrationsremained
consistentbetweenpre-andpost-construction,butphosphateincreasedduringthose
periods. Nitriteshowedconsistentlyhigherconcentrationsinthetwoupstreamsites
comparedtothetwodownstreamsites. Nitrate,phosphate,andnitriteuptakelengths
remainedunchangedpre-andpost-implementationoftheBMP. Theseresultsstrongly
suggestthattheBMPhadnopositiveeffectonthetwoecosystemservicesstudied.
Despiteitsimpairedstatus,WeracobaCreekcontinuestoprovidesomemeasureof
servicesthroughleaflitterdecompositionandnutrientretention.