Effect of changing land use from virgin brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) woodland to a crop or pasture system on sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff over 25 years in subtropical Australia

Abstract

Native vegetation has been extensively cleared for agricultural systems worldwide, resulting in increased pollutant loads that often have adverse impacts downstream. This study uses 25 years of flow data and 10 years of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus (total and dissolved) event mean concentrations from paired catchments to quantify the effect of changing land use from virgin brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) woodland in a semi-arid subtropical region of Australia into an unfertilised crop or conservatively grazed pasture system. Both the cropped and grazed catchments exported higher loads of sediment and phosphorus than the virgin brigalow catchment; however, the grazed catchment exported less total, oxidised and dissolved nitrogen than the virgin brigalow catchment. The cropped catchment exported higher loads of all water quality parameters compared to the grazed catchment. The simple hydrology and water quality model presented was effective for measuring the effect of land use change on runoff water quality. Variations in water quality between the three catchments are likely due to the presence of native legumes, ground cover, tillage practices and pasture rundown.