Nutrient and hydrologic budgets of a great lakes coastal freshwater wetland during a drought year

Abstract

A coastal wetland along Lake Erie (Ohio, U.S.A.) was studied to determine hydrologic and phosphorus budgets and spatial and temporal variation of phosphorus and related chemical parameters. The wetland was influenced by changing Lake Erie water levels, seiches, shifting shoreline sediments, and watershed inflow during a year of severe drought. The water budget for a 7-month period (March – September, 1988) had average inflow of 15 200 m3 day−1 from the watershed and 3.5 m3 day−1 from Lake Erie. The wetland increased in volume by 700 m3 day−1 despite a drought that resulted in 80% more evapotranspiration than rainfall as a barrier beach isolated the wetland from Lake Erie for 77% of the study period. Conductivity decreased by 34% as water flowed through the wetland and turbidity and total suspended solids were variable and statistically similar at inflow and outflow. Average total phosphorus concentrations in the inflow and outflow were also similar (247 and 248 µg P l−1 respectively) although total soluble phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus decreased significantly (α=0.05) from inflow to outflow (averages 94 to 45 µg P l−1 and 7.5 to 4.0 µg P l−1 respectively). Nutrient budgets from field data estimate a retention of 36% of the phosphorus, presumably in the sediments (0.8 mg P m−2 day−1). A general nutrient retention model, an estimated deposition rate from a sediment core and a simulation model predicted higher mass retention of phosphorus but similar percentage retention.