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Recent Land Cover History and Nutrient Retention in Riparian Wetlands

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Abstract

Wetland ecosystems are profoundly affected by altered nutrient and sediment loads received from anthropogenic activity in their surrounding watersheds. Our objective was to compare a gradient of agricultural and urban land cover history during the period from 1949 to 1997, with plant and soil nutrient concentrations in, and sediment deposition to, riparian wetlands in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. We observed that recent agricultural land cover was associated with increases in Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) concentrations in a native wetland plant species. Conversely, recent urban land cover appeared to alter receiving wetland environmental conditions by increasing the relative availability of P versus N, as reflected in an invasive, but not a native, plant species. In addition, increases in surface soil Fe content suggests recent inputs of terrestrial sediments associated specifically with increasing urban land cover. The observed correlation between urban land cover and riparian wetland plant tissue and surface soil nutrient concentrations and sediment deposition, suggest that urbanization specifically enhances the suitability of riparian wetland habitats for the invasive species Japanese stiltgrass [Microstegium vimenium (Trinius) A. Camus].

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Acknowledgments

We thank L. Williams and A. Hibbard for field and laboratory assistance, and the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services Stormwater Planning Division—F. Rose, M. Meyers, M. Handy, S. Curtis, L. Grape, G. England, and C. Grupe for input and assistance. B. Haack, G. Guntenspergen, C. Jones, R. McBride, and P. Groffman provided helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript, C. Sutton assisted with statistical analyses, and G. Taylor gave advice on the plant work. T. Huff of the George Mason University Shared Research Instrumentation Facility (SRIF) and the Department of Chemistry provided support for the atomic absorption spectrometer. This research was supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency through the State Wetland Grant Program (Assistance #CD 98319701), by collaborative agreement between the Fairfax County Government Center and M.R. Walbridge at George Mason University, and by the US Geological Survey in Reston, VA, through the Human Resource Initiative. Although the research described in this article has been funded in part by the USEPA, it has not been subjected to the Agency’s peer and policy review and therefore does not reflect the view of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred.

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  1. Eastern Geographic Science Center, US Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MSN 521, Reston, VA, 20192, USA

    Dianna M. Hogan

  2. Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD, USA

    Mark R. Walbridge

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  1. Dianna M. Hogan
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Correspondence to Dianna M. Hogan.

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Hogan, D.M., Walbridge, M.R. Recent Land Cover History and Nutrient Retention in Riparian Wetlands. Environmental Management 44, 62–72 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9313-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9313-9

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