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Dissolved phosphorus export through baseflow in an intensively cultivated agricultural watershed of eastern China

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Abstract

Inputs of phosphorus (P) during baseflow period usually come from groundwater, bed sediments, and some other sources. Baseflow P can have critical effects on nutrient enrichment of surface waters in some intensively cultivated agricultural watersheds. This study was conducted to estimate the baseflow dissolved phosphorus (DP) export in a typical rainy agricultural watershed of eastern China using a recursive tracing source algorithm (RTSA) and reveal the rules and trends of baseflow DP loads and concentrations. Results indicated that RTSA provided a satisfactory prediction for baseflow DP load (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) = 0.72, R2 = 0.74). From 2003 to 2012, the annual baseflow DP loads ranged from 0.159 (2004) to 0.771 (2012) kg/ha which contributed about 64.3% of the mean total annual DP export in stream (0.597 kg/ha). The annual flow-weighted DP concentrations in streamflow (0.076–0.125 mg/L) and baseflow (0.076–0.137 mg/L) far exceeded the eutrophication threshold of DP (0.01 mg/L). Significantly increasing trends were obtained in the streamflow and baseflow DP loads and the flow-weighted concentrations (Mann-Kendall test, Zs > 2.56, p < 0.01) because of the changes of hydro-meteorological conditions. This indicates that, in the context of global climate change, baseflow DP export would be one of key issues for nonpoint source pollution control in the intensive agricultural watershed.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Zhejiang Provincial Government Hydrology Office and China Meteorological Administration for providing data critical for this investigation.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41807154), Research and Development Fund of Zhejiang A & F University (Grant No. 2018FR020), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LY21D010001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University, Lin’an, Hangzhou, 311300, China

    Shengjia He

  2. China Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Jun Lu

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  1. Shengjia He
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Shengjia He. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shengjia He under the guidance of Jun Lu. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shengjia He.

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He, S., Lu, J. Dissolved phosphorus export through baseflow in an intensively cultivated agricultural watershed of eastern China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 32866–32878 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12802-3

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