Abstract
Concentrations of dissolved urea were monitored in several Chesapeake Bay tributaries from 1998 to 2002. Urea is a commonly used agricultural fertilizer and is also a breakdown product of poultry manure, which is used as an additional source of fertilizer throughout the watershed. Two trends were apparent. First, in several of the tributaries, seasonal peaks in ambient urea concentration coincided with the periods of the year (early spring and mid summer) when agricultural applications are most common. Second, highest annual mean concentrations (up to 2.6 μg atom N L−1), as well as highest individual measurements (up to 24 μg atom N L−1), were found for those tributaries with the most intensive agricultural and poultry operations. Peak urea concentrations were significantly higher than those which could be attained from in situ sources and regeneration. These elevated concentrations are of concern because this form of nitrogen has been shown to be a preferred form of nitrogenous nutrient for many phytoplankton, including some dinoflagellates which form harmful algal blooms. These results demonstrate that urea from land based sources can contribute to anthropogenic eutrophication.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, D. M., Glibert, P. M. and Burkholder, J. M.: 2002, ‘Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: Nutrient sources, composition, and consequences’ Estuaries 25, 704–726.
Antia, N. J., Harrison, P. J. and Oliveira, L.: 1991, ‘Phycological reviews: The role of dissolved organic nitrogen in phytoplankton nutrition, cell biology, and ecology’ Phycologia 30, 1–89.
Berg, G. M., Glibert, P. M., Lomas, M. W. and Burford, M.: 1997, ‘Organic nitrogen uptake and growth by the chrysophyte Aureococcus anophagefferens during a brown tide event’ Mar. Biol. 129, 377–387.
Berman, T.: 1974, ‘Urea in the waters of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)’ Limnol. Oceanogr. 19, 977–980.
Berman, T. and Bronk, D. A.: 2003, ‘Dissolved organic nitrogen: A dynamic participant in aquatic ecosystems’ Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 31, 279–305.
Bidigare, R. R.: 1983, ‘Nitrogen excretion by marine zooplankton’ in E. J. Carpenter (ed.), Nitrogen in the Marine Environment, Academic Press, NY, pp. 385–409.
Boesch, D. F.: 2002, ‘Challenges and opportunities for science in reducing nutrient over-enrichment of coastal ecosystems’ Estuaries 25, 886–900.
Boesch, D. F., Brinsfield, R. B. and Magnien, R. E.: 2000, ‘Chesapeake Bay eutrophication: Scientific understanding, ecosystem restoration, and challenges for agriculture’ J. Environ. Qual. 30, 303–320.
Boynton, W. R. and Kemp, W. M.: 2000, ‘Influence of river flow and nutrient loading on selected ecosystem processes and properties in Chesapeake Bay’ in J. Hobbie (ed.), Estuarine Science: A Synthetic Approach to Research and Practice, Island Press, Washington, DC, pp. 269–298.
Boynton, W. R., Kemp, W. M. and Keefe, C. W.: 1982, ‘A comparative analysis of nutrients and other factors influencing estuarine phytoplankton production’ in V. S. Kennedy (ed.), Estuarine Comparisons, Academic Press, NY, pp. 69–90.
Boynton, W. R., Garber, J. H., Summers, R. and Kemp, W. M.: 1995, ‘Input, transformations, and transport of nitrogen and phosphorus in Chesapeake Bay and selected tributaries’ Estuaries 18, 285–314.
Carpenter, E. J., Remsen, C. C. and Schroeder, B. W.: 1972, ‘Comparison of laboratory and in situ measurements of urea decomposition by a marine diatom’ J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 8, 259–264.
Chadwick, T. D. and Wright, P. A.: 1999, ‘Nitrogen excretion and expression of urea cycle enzymes in the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.): A comparison of early life stages with adults’ J. Exp. Biol. 19, 2653–2662.
Cho, B. C. and Azam, F.: 1995, ‘Urea decomposition by bacteria in the southern California bight and its implications for the mesopelagic nitrogen cycle’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 122, 21–26.
Cho, B. C., Park, M. G., Shim, J. H. and Azam, F.: 1996, ‘Significance of bacteria in urea dynamics in coastal surface waters’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 142, 19–26.
Constant, K. M. and Sheldrick, W. F.: 1992, ‘World nitrogen survey’ World Bank Technical Paper 174, Washington, DC.
Cornell, S. E., Jickells, T. D. and Thornton, C. A.: 1998, ‘Urea in rainwater and atmospheric aerosol’ Atmos. Environ. 32, 1903–1910.
Corner, E. D. S. and Newell, B. S.: 1967, ‘On the nutrition and metabolism of zooplankton. 4. The forms of nitrogen excreted by Calanus’ J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 47, 113–120.
Fisher, T. R., Harding L., Stanley, D. W. and Ward L. G.: 1988, ‘Phytoplankton, nutrients, and turbidity in the Chesapeake, Delaware, and Hudson estuaries’ Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 27, 61–93.
Fisher, T. R., Peele E. R., Ammerman J. W., Harding L. W., : 1992, ‘Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in Chesapeake Bay’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 82, 51–63.
Glibert, P. M., Alexander J., Trice T. M., Michael B.,Magnien R. E.,Lane L.,Oldach D., and Bowers, H.: in press, ‘Chronic urea nitrogen loading: A correlate of Pfiesteria spp. in the Chesapeake and coastal bays of Maryland, USA’ in K. A. Steidinger, J. H. Landsberg, C. R. Tomas, G. A. Vargo, (eds.), Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Harmful Algae, 2002, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commision of UNESCO.
Glibert, P. M. and Terlizzi, D. E.: 1999, ‘Co-occurrence of elevated urea levels and dinoflagellate blooms in temperate estuarine aquaculture ponds’ Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65, 5594–5596.
Glibert, P. M.,Garside C.,Fuhrman J. A., Roman M. R.: 1991, ‘Time-dependent coupling of inorganic and organic nitrogen uptake and regeneration in the plume of the Chesapeake bay estuary and its regulation by large heterotrophs’ Limnol. Oceanogr. 36, 895–909.
Glibert, P. M., Conley, D. J., Fisher, T. R., Harding, L. W., Jr. and Malone, T. C.: 1995, ‘Dynamics of the 1990 winter/spring bloom in Chesapeake bay’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 122, 1–3.
Glibert, P. M., Magnien, R., Lomas, M. W., Alexander, J., Fan, C., Haramoto, E., Trice, M. and Kana, T. M.: 2001, ‘Harmful algal blooms in the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays of Maryland, USA: Comparisons of 1997, 1998, and 1999 events’ Estuaries 24, 875–883.
Kristiansen, S.: 1983, ‘Urea as a nitrogen source for the phytoplankton in the Oslofjord’ Mar. Biol. 74, 17–24.
Lewitus, A. J., Burkholder, J. M., Glasgow Jr., H. B., Glibert, P. M., Willis, B. M. and Hayes, K. C.: 1999, ‘Mixotrophy and nitrogen uptake by Pfiesteria piscicida (Dinophyceae)’ J. Phycol. 35, 1430–1437.
Lomas, M. W., Trice, T. M., Glibert, P. M., Bronk, D. A. and McCarthy, J. J.: 2002, ‘Temporal and spatial dynamics of urea uptake and regeneration rates, and concentrations in Chesapeake Bay’ Estuaries 25, 469–482.
Lomas, M. W., Glibert, P. M., Clougherty, D. A., Huber, D. E., Jones, J., Alexander, J. and Haramoto, E.: 2001, ‘Elevated organic nutrient ratios associated with brown tide blooms of Aureococcus anophagefferens (Pelagophyceae)’ J. Plank. Res. 23, 1339–1344.
Lomstein, B. A., Blackburn, T. H. and Henriksen, K.: 1989, ‘Aspects of nitrogen and carbon cycling in the northern Bering Shelf sediment. 1. The significance of urea turnover in the mineralization of NH4+’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 57, 237–247.
Lund, B. A. and Blackburn, T. H.: 1989, ‘Urea turnover in a coastal marine sediment measured by a 14C-urea short-term incubation’ J. Microbiol. Methods 9, 297–308.
Mayzaud, P.: 1973, ‘Respiration and nitrogen excretion of zooplankton. II. Studies of the metabolic characteristics of starved animals’ Mar. Biol. 21, 19–28.
McCarthy, J. J.: 1970, ‘A urease method for urea in seawater’ Limnol. Oceanogr. 15, 309–313.
McCarthy, J. J. and Kamykowski, D.: 1972, ‘Urea and other nitrogenous nutrients in La Jolla bay during February, March, and April 1970’ Fish. Bull. 70, 1261–1273.
Miller, C. A. and Glibert, P. M.: 1998, ‘Nitrogen excretion by the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa: Results of mesocosm experiments’ J. Plank. Res. 20, 1767–1780.
Mitamura, O. and Saijo, Y.: 1980, ‘In situ measurement of the urea decomposition rate and its turnover rate in the Pacific Ocean’ Mar. Biol. 58, 147–152.
Overdahl, C. J., Rehm, G. W. and Meredith, H. L.: 1991, Fertilizer Urea, University of Minnesota Extension Services.
Paerl, H. W.: 1988, ‘Nuisance phytoplankton blooms in coastal, estuarine, and inland waters’ Limnol. Oceanogr. 33, 823–847.
Parsons, T. R., Maita, Y. and Lalli, C. M.: 1984, A Manual of Chemical and Biological Methods for Seawater Analyses, Pergamon Press, NY.
Satoh, Y., Okino, T. and Aoyama, K.: 1980, ‘Correlation between urea and other chemical and biological parameters in waters of Lake Suwa, Japan’ Intern. Rev. der Hydrobiologie 65, 445–454.
Savidge, G. and Hutley, H. T.: 1977, ‘Rates of remineralization and assimilation of urea by fractionated plankton populations in coastal waters’ J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 28, 1–16.
Shoji, S., Delgado, J., Mosier, A. and Miura, Y.: 2001, ‘Use of controlled release fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors to increase nitrogen use efficiency and to conserve air and water quality’ Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 32, 1051–1070.
Smil, V.: 2001, Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Stehouwer, R. C. and Johnson, J. W.: 1990, ‘Urea and anhydrous ammonia management for conventional tillage corn production’ J. Prod. Agri. 3, 507–513.
Tamminen, T. and Irmisch, A.: 1996, ‘Urea uptake kinetics of a midsummer planktonic community on the SW coast of Finland’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 130, 201–211.
Therkildsen, M. S. and Lomstein, B. A.: 1994, ‘Seasonal variation in sediment urea turnover in a shallow estuary’ Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.. 109, 77–82.
Timperley, M. H., Vigor-Brown, R. J., Kawashima, M. and Ishigami, M.: 1985, ‘Organic nitrogen compounds in atmospheric precipitation: Their chemistry and availability to phytoplankton’ Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.. 42, 1171–1177.
Turley, C. M.: 1986, ‘Urea uptake by phytoplankton at different fronts and associated stratified and mixed waters on the European shelf’ Br. Phycol. J. 21, 225–238.
U. S. Department of Agriculture: 1997, ‘Manure nitrogen vulnerability leaching index’ Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Assessment and Strategic Planning Division Map ID: BWM 2126.
Walsh, P. J., Heitz, M. J., Campbell, C. E., Cooper, G. J., Medina, M., Wang, Y. S., Goss, G. G., Vincek, V., Wood, C. M. and Smith, C. P.: 2000, ‘Molecular characterization of a urea transporter in the gill of the gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta)’ J. Exp. Biol. 203, 2357–2364.
Webb, K. L. and Haas, L. W.: 1976, ‘The significance of urea for phytoplankton nutrition in the York River, Virginia’ in M. Wiley (ed.), Estuarine Processes. Uses, Stresses, and Adaptations to the Estuary, Vol. 1., Academic Press, NY, pp. 90–102.
Wright, P. A., Felskie, A. and Anderson, P. M.: 1995, ‘Induction of ornithine-urea cycle enzymes and nitrogen metabolism and excretion in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during early life stages’ J. Exp. Biol. 198, 127–135.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glibert, P.M., Trice, T.M., Michael, B. et al. Urea in the Tributaries of the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays of Maryland. Water Air Soil Pollut 160, 229–243 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-005-2546-1
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-005-2546-1