Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Water Resources Research 41 (2005): W01014, doi:10.1029/2004WR003269.
Description:
We measured δ15N signatures of macrophytes and particulate organic matter (POM) in six estuaries and three freshwater ponds of Massachusetts to assess whether the signatures could be used as indicators of the magnitude of land-derived nitrogen loads, concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the water column, and percentage of N loads contributed by wastewater disposal. The study focused specifically on sites on Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, in the northeastern United States. There was no evidence of seasonal changes in δ15N values of macrophytes or POM. The δ15N values of macrophytes and POM increased as water column dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations increased. We found that δ15N of macrophytes, but not of POM, increased as N load increased. The δ15N values of macrophytes and groundwater NO3 tracked the percent of wastewater contribution linearly. This research confirms that δ15N values of macrophytes and NO3 can be excellent indicators of anthropogenic N in aquatic systems.
Description:
This work was supported by funds from the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Program, from the
Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology,
from a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection grant to
Applied Science Associates, Narragansett, Rhode Island, and from a
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Estuarine
Research Reserve fellowship and Palmer/McCleod fellowship to K.D.K.
Keywords:
δ15N
;
Macrophyte
;
Stable isotope
;
Wastewater
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
