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Effects of storm size and frequency on nitrogen retention, denitrification, and N2O production in bioretention swale mesocosms

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Abstract

Reported nitrogen (N) retention efficiencies for bioretention swales vary widely, but reasons for this are not well-understood, in part because almost no studies have measured (or characterized controls on) bioretention swale denitrification. Here, we apply a novel N2:Ar-based approach, in coordination with more established approaches, to estimate denitrification rates and compare bioretention N dynamics during artificial storms of two sizes (3.05 and 5.08 cm days−1) and following 4 inter-storm periods (initial storm with no prior storm, 1-, 7-, and 13-days). Denitrification rates during storms occurring after 7-days (520 ± 150 µmol N m−2 h−1) were significantly higher than those during an initialization storm (13 ± 34 µmol N m−2 h−1) or during a storm occurring one day after a previous storm (−63 ± 65 µmol N m−2 h−1). No significant differences in N processing were observed between 3.05 and 5.08 cm days−1 storms. Somewhat surprisingly, in all experiments [O2] remained near saturated, and N2O emissions were very low or undetectable. Mesocosms were largely a net sink for dissolved inorganic N (DIN) and a net source of dissolved organic N (DON). Denitrification was neither a dominant nor consistent pathway for N removal, accounting for a maximum of 23 ± 11% of DIN removal. Future research should continue to evaluate N assimilation as a N removal pathway in bioretention swales, as well as characterize N dynamics during unsaturated conditions associated with smaller rain events and during periods between the large storms examined here.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation ULTRA-Ex Portland/Vancouver project, a USGS 104(b) Washington Water Research Center grant, the Robert Lane Fellowship, the Vancouver Rotary Club, and a Washington State University Vancouver Professional Development Award. Special thanks to past and present members of the Global Change and Watershed Biogeochemistry Laboratory at Washington State University- Vancouver, including Keith Birchfield, Bridget Deemer, Sada Egenriether, Will Forney, Rebecca Bellmore, Stu McNeal, Cody Miller, Amaanjit Singh, and Francesca Wignes. Additional thanks to Dave Savage at the WSU Technical Instrument Shop; John Stark, Richard Bembenek, and Dick Johnson at WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center; and to Jeff Schnabel of Clark County Environmental Services. Finally, we thank Jennifer Morse for her thoughtful and helpful input on early drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. School of the Environment, Washington State University- Vancouver, Vancouver, WA, 98686, USA

    Richard A. Norton, John A. Harrison & Kevan B. Moffett

  2. School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    C. Kent Keller

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  1. Richard A. Norton
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Norton, R.A., Harrison, J.A., Kent Keller, C. et al. Effects of storm size and frequency on nitrogen retention, denitrification, and N2O production in bioretention swale mesocosms. Biogeochemistry 134, 353–370 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-017-0365-2

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