Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorShore, Mairead
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Sinead
dc.contributor.authorMellander, Per-Erik
dc.contributor.authorShortle, Ger
dc.contributor.authorMelland, A. R.
dc.contributor.authorCrockford, Lucy
dc.contributor.authorO'Flaherty, Vincent
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, Lauren
dc.contributor.authorMorgan, Ger
dc.contributor.authorJordan, Philip
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-03T11:14:31Z
dc.date.available2019-09-03T11:14:31Z
dc.date.issued2017-03-09
dc.identifier.citationShore, M., Murphy, S., Mellander, P., Shortle, G., Melland, A., Crockford, L., O'Flaherty, V., Williams, L., Morgan, G. and Jordan, P. Influence of stormflow and baseflow phosphorus pressures on stream ecology in agricultural catchments. Science of The Total Environment, 2017, 590-591, 469-483. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.100en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/1779
dc.descriptionpeer-revieweden_US
dc.description.abstractStormflow and baseflow phosphorus (P) concentrations and loads in rivers may exert different ecological pressures during different seasons. These pressures and subsequent impacts are important to disentangle in order to target and monitor the effectiveness of mitigation measures. This study investigated the influence of stormflow and baseflow P pressures on stream ecology in six contrasting agricultural catchments. A five-year high resolution dataset was used consisting of stream discharge, P chemistry, macroinvertebrate and diatom ecology, supported with microbial source tracking and turbidity data. Total reactive P (TRP) loads delivered during baseflows were low (1–7% of annual loads), but TRP concentrations frequently exceeded the environmental quality standard (EQS) of 0.035 mg L− 1 during these flows (32–100% of the time in five catchments). A pilot microbial source tracking exercise in one catchment indicated that both human and ruminant faecal effluents were contributing to these baseflow P pressures but were diluted at higher flows. Seasonally, TRP concentrations tended to be highest during summer due to these baseflow P pressures and corresponded well with declines in diatom quality during this time (R2 = 0.79). Diatoms tended to recover by late spring when storm P pressures were most prevalent and there was a poor relationship between antecedent TRP concentrations and diatom quality in spring (R2 = 0.23). Seasonal variations were less apparent in the macroinvertebrate indices; however, there was a good relationship between antecedent TRP concentrations and macroinvertebrate quality during spring (R2 = 0.51) and summer (R2 = 0.52). Reducing summer point source discharges may be the quickest way to improve ecological river quality, particularly diatom quality in these and similar catchments. Aligning estimates of P sources with ecological impacts and identifying ecological signals which can be attributed to storm P pressures are important next steps for successful management of agricultural catchments at these scales.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesScience of the Total Environment;Vol. 590-591
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectStormflowen_US
dc.subjectBaseflowen_US
dc.subjectPhosphorusen_US
dc.subjectAgricultureen_US
dc.subjectDiatomsen_US
dc.subjectMacroinvertebratesen_US
dc.titleInfluence of stormflow and baseflow phosphorus pressures on stream ecology in agricultural catchmentsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.100
dc.contributor.sponsorDepartment of Agriculture, Food and the Marineen_US
refterms.dateFOA2018-03-09T00:00:00Z


Files in this item

Thumbnail
Name:
1-s2.0-S0048969717303480-main.pdf
Size:
2.367Mb
Format:
PDF
Description:
main article

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States