Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

High Potential Nitrate Removal by Urban Accidental Wetlands in a Desert City: Limitations and Spatiotemporal Patterns

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Urban areas are typically considered to be net exporters of reactive nitrogen. As a result, much effort has gone into creating or restoring areas supporting microbial denitrification, which permanently removes nitrate from urban ecosystems. However, denitrification is a facultative process, with complex spatiotemporal drivers and limitations, making it difficult to predict where or when denitrification will occur. This is particularly true in urban systems, where drivers and limitations can differ greatly from those of native systems. In this study, we examine novel urban ecosystems in a unique geographic setting, investigating limitations and spatiotemporal drivers of denitrification in accidental wetlands (AW) located in a desert city (Phoenix, AZ). These wetlands were unintentionally created by runoff generated in Phoenix and exiting storm pipes into a dry riverbed. Previous work in native, nonurban Arizona wetlands (NW) found that monsoon floods and plant patches are important spatiotemporal drivers of denitrification. While we found that AW had high potential to process nitrate, denitrification patterns in AW exhibit different drivers from NW. As predicted, denitrification potential in AW was greater under plant patches, but surprisingly, this was not only due to the plants alleviating carbon limitation as both vegetated and unvegetated patches were not carbon limited. Contrary to predictions, monsoon floods did not increase denitrification potential, and perennially inundated AW had the highest denitrification potential, suggesting less temporal variation in denitrification in AW than in NW. Together, these findings offer novel insights into the complex interactions shaping spatiotemporal patterns of nitrate processing in arid urban regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alldred M, Baines SB. 2016. Effects of wetland plants on denitrification rates: a meta-analysis. Ecol Appl 26:676–85.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Angers DA, Caron J. 1998. Plant-induced changes in soil structure: Processes and feedbacks. In: Breemen NV, Ed. Developments in Biogeochemistry. Netherlands: Springer. p 55–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong J, Armstrong W. 1990. Light-enhanced convective throughflow increases oxygenation in rhizomes and rhizosphere of Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. New Phytol 114:121–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker LA, Hope D, Xu Y, Edmonds J, Lauver L. 2001. Nitrogen balance for the central Arizona-Phoenix (CAP) ecosystem. Ecosystems 4:582–602.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baker MA, Vervier P. 2004. Hydrological variability, organic matter supply and denitrification in the Garonne River ecosystem. Freshw Biol 49:181–90.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bateman HL, Stromberg JC, Banville MJ, Makings E, Scott BD, Suchy A, Wolkis D. 2015. Novel water sources restore plant and animal communities along an urban river. Ecohydrology 8.

  • Cohen J. 1988. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. 2nd edn. Hillsdale, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG. 2000. Evaluating wetlands within an urban context. Ecol Eng 15:253–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG. 2003. Effects of exotic plant invasions on soil nutrient cycling processes. Ecosystems 6:503–23.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gober P, Kirkwood CW, Balling RC Jr, Ellis AW, Deitrick S. 2010. Water planning under climatic uncertainty in Phoenix: Why we need a new paradigm. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 100:356–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Boulware NJ, Zipperer WC, Pouyat RV, Band LE, Colosimo MF. 2002. Soil nitrogen cycle processes in urban riparian zones. Environ Sci Technol 36:4547–52.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Butterbach-Bahl K, Fulweiler RW, Gold AJ, Morse JL, Stander EK, Tague C, Tonitto C, Vidon P. 2009. Challenges to incorporating spatially and temporally explicit phenomena (hotspots and hot moments) in denitrification models. Biogeochemistry 93:49–77.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Eagan P, Sullivan WM, Lemunyon JL. 1996. Grass species and soil type effects on microbial biomass and activity. Plant Soil 183:61–7.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Holland EA, Myrold DD, Robertson GP, Zou X. 1999. Denitrification. In: Robertson GP, Coleman DC, Bledsoe CS, Sollins P, Eds. Standard Soil Methods for Long-term Ecological Research. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale RL, Scoggins M, Smucker NJ, Suchy A. 2016. Effects of climate on the expression of the urban stream syndrome. Freshw Sci:000–000.

  • Hale RL, Turnbull L, Earl S, Grimm N, Riha K, Michalski G, Lohse KA, Childers D. 2014a. Sources and transport of nitrogen in arid urban watersheds. Environ Sci Technol 48:6211–19.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hale RL, Turnbull L, Earl SR, Childers DL, Grimm NB. 2014b. Stormwater infrastructure controls runoff and dissolved material export from arid urban watersheds. Ecosystems 18:62–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall SJ, Ahmed B, Ortiz P, Davies R, Sponseller RA, Grimm NB. 2009. Urbanization alters soil microbial functioning in the Sonoran desert. Ecosystems 12:654–71.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harms TK, Grimm NB. 2008. Hot spots and hot moments of carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a semiarid riparian zone. J Geophys Res Biogeosciences 113:G01020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harms TK, Grimm NB. 2010. Influence of the hydrologic regime on resource availability in a semi-arid stream-riparian corridor. Ecohydrology 3:349–59.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harms TK, Wentz EA, Grimm NB. 2009. Spatial heterogeneity of denitrification in semi-arid floodplains. Ecosystems 12:129–43.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan JB, Fisher SG. 2012. Plant–microbe interactions and nitrogen dynamics during wetland establishment in a desert stream. Biogeochemistry 107:379–91.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan JB, Sponseller RA, Fisher SG. 2008. Consequences of a biogeomorphic regime shift for the hyporheic zone of a Sonoran Desert stream. Freshw Biol 53:1954–68.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez ME, Mitsch WJ. 2007. Denitrification potential and organic matter as affected by vegetation community, wetland age, and plant introduction in created wetlands. J Environ Qual 36:333.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE. 1992. Effects of plant species on nutrient cycling. Trends Ecol Evol 7:336–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins KG, Morse NB, Bain DJ, Bettez ND, Grimm NB, Morse JL, Palta MM, Shuster WD, Bratt AR, Suchy AK. 2015. Assessment of regional variation in streamflow responses to urbanization and the persistence of physiography. Environ Sci Technol 49:2724–32.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hume NP, Fleming MS, Horne AJ. 2002. Plant carbohydrate limitation on nitrate reduction in wetland microcosms. Water Res 36:577–84.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson TAN, Kaushal SS, Mayer PM, Grese MM. 2014. Effects of stormwater management and stream restoration on watershed nitrogen retention. Biogeochemistry 121:81–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaushal SS, Groffman PM, Band LE, Elliott EM, Shields CA, Kendall C. 2011. Tracking nonpoint source nitrogen pollution in human-impacted watersheds. Environ Sci Technol 45:8225–32.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koch BJ, Febria CM, Gevrey M, Wainger LA, Palmer MA. 2014. Nitrogen removal by stormwater management structures: a data synthesis. JAWRA J Am Water Resour Assoc 50:1594–607.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mallin MA, Johnson VL, Ensign SH. 2009. Comparative impacts of stormwater runoff on water quality of an urban, a suburban, and a rural stream. Environ Monit Assess 159:475–91.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McClain ME, Boyer EW, Dent CL, Gergel SE, Grimm NB, Groffman PM, Hart SC, Harvey JW, Johnston CA, Mayorga E, McDowell WH, Pinay G. 2003. Biogeochemical hot spots and hot moments at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecosystems 6:301–12.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Newcomer TA, Kaushal SS, Mayer PM, Shields AR, Canuel EA, Groffman PM, Gold AJ. 2012. Influence of natural and novel organic carbon sources on denitrification in forest, degraded urban, and restored streams. Ecol Monogr 82:449–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palta MM, Doyle TW, Jackson CR, Meyer JL, Sharitz RR. 2012. Changes in Diameter Growth of Taxodium distichum in Response to Flow Alterations in the Savannah River. Wetlands 32:59–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palta MM, Ehrenfeld JG, Groffman PM. 2014. “Hotspots” and “hot moments” of denitrification in urban brownfield wetlands. Ecosystems 17:1121–37.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palta MM, Grimm NB, Groffman PM. 2017. “Accidental” urban wetlands: ecosystem functions in unexpected places. Front Ecol Environ 15:248–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passeport E, Vidon P, Forshay KJ, Harris L, Kaushal SS, Kellogg DQ, Lazar J, Mayer P, Stander EK. 2012. Ecological engineering practices for the reduction of excess nitrogen in human-influenced landscapes: a guide for watershed managers. Environ Manage 51:392–413.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paul MJ, Meyer JL. 2001. Streams in the Urban Landscape. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32:333–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power JF, Schepers JS. 1989. Nitrate contamination of groundwater in North America. Agric Ecosyst Environ 26:165–87.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy KR, Patrick WH, Lindau CW. 1989. Nitrification-denitrification at the plant root-sediment interface in wetlands. Limnol Oceanogr 34:1004–13.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roach WJ, Grimm NB. 2011. Denitrification mitigates N flux through the stream–floodplain complex of a desert city. Ecol Appl 21:2618–36.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson GP, Coleman DC, Bledsoe CS, Sollins P. 1999. Standard soil methods for long-term ecological research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rütting T, Boeckx P, Müller C, Klemedtsson L. 2011. Assessment of the importance of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium for the terrestrial nitrogen cycle. Biogeosciences 8:1779–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rysgaard S, Risgaard-Petersen N, Niels Peter S, Kim J, Lars Peter N. 1994. Oxygen regulation of nitrification and denitrification in sediments. Limnol Oceanogr 39:1643–52.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schade JD, Fisher SG, Grimm NB, Seddon JA. 2001. The influence of a riparian shrub on nitrogen cycling in a Sonoran Desert stream. Ecology 82:3363–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schade JD, Hobbie SE. 2005. Spatial and temporal variation in islands of fertility in the Sonoran Desert. Biogeochemistry 73:541–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH, Raikes JA, Hartley AE, Cross AF. 1996. On the spatial pattern of soil nutrients in desert ecosystems. Ecology 77:364–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seitzinger S, Harrison JA, Böhlke JK, Bouwman AF, Lowrance R, Peterson B, Tobias C, Drecht GV. 2006. Denitrification across landscapes and waterscapes: a synthesis. Ecol Appl 16:2064–90.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha E, Michalak AM, Balaji V. 2017. Eutrophication will increase during the 21st century as a result of precipitation changes. Science 357:405–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stander EK, Ehrenfeld JG. 2008. Rapid assessment of urban wetlands: Do hydrogeomorphic classification and reference criteria work? Environ Manage 43:725–42.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford G, Dzienia S, Vander Pol RA. 1975. Effect of temperature on denitrification rate in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 39:867–70.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • StataCorp. 2015. Stata statistical software: Release 14. TX: StataCorp LP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele MK, Heffernan JB. 2013. Morphological characteristics of urban water bodies: mechanisms of change and implications for ecosystem function. Ecol Appl 24:1070–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stromberg JC, Beauchamp VB, Dixon MD, Lite SJ, Paradzick C. 2007. Importance of low-flow and high-flow characteristics to restoration of riparian vegetation along rivers in arid south-western United States. Freshw Biol 52:651–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suchy AK. 2016. Denitrification in accidental urban wetlands: Exploring the roles of water flows and plant patches. Arizona State University.

  • Townsend AR, Howarth RW, Bazzaz FA, Booth MS, Cleveland CC, Collinge SK, Dobson AP, Epstein PR, Holland EA, Keeney DR, Mallin MA, Rogers CA, Wayne P, Wolfe AH. 2003. Human health effects of a changing global nitrogen cycle. Front Ecol Environ 1:240–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Aber JD, Howarth RW, Likens GE, Matson PA, Schindler DW, Schlesinger WH, Tilman DG. 1997. Human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle: sources and consequences. Ecol Appl 7:737–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler MM, Neill C, Groffman PM, Avolio M, Bettez N, Cavender-Bares J, Roy Chowdhury R, Darling L, Grove JM, Hall SJ, Heffernan JB, Hobbie SE, Larson KL, Morse JL, Nelson KC, Ogden LA, O’Neil-Dunne J, Pataki DE, Polsky C, Steele M, Trammell TLE. 2017. Continental-scale homogenization of residential lawn plant communities. Landsc Urban Plan 165:54–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • White JM, Stromberg JC. 2011. Resilience, restoration, and riparian ecosystems: Case study of a dryland, urban river. Restor Ecol 19:101–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams CJ, Yamashita Y, Wilson HF, Jaffé R, Xenopoulos MA. 2010. Unraveling the role of land use and microbial activity in shaping dissolved organic matter characteristics in stream ecosystems. Limnol Oceanogr 55:1159–71.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Windham L, Ehrenfeld JG. 2003. Net impact of a plant invasion on nitrogen-cycling processes within a brackish tidal marsh. Ecol Appl 13:883–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhai X, Piwpuan N, Arias CA, Headley T, Brix H. 2013. Can root exudates from emergent wetland plants fuel denitrification in subsurface flow constructed wetland systems? Ecol Eng 61:555–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu W-X, Dillard ND, Grimm NB. 2005. Urban nitrogen biogeochemistry: status and processes in green retention basins. Biogeochemistry 71:177–96.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possible without advice, field, and laboratory support from Nancy Grimm, John Sabo, Sharon Hall, Lindsey Pollard, Cathy Kochert, Hannah Heavenrich, Jennifer Learned, and Dakota Tallman. Thanks to Brian Miller from the City of Phoenix, Diana Stuart from Maricopa Flood Control, and Basil Boyd from the City of Tempe for help with site access. This material is based upon work supported by the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program with support from the National Science Foundation under grants DEB-1026865 and DEB-1637590.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 85 Saint Nicholas Terrace, New York City, New York, 10031, USA

    Amanda K. Suchy

  2. Department of Environmental Studies and Science, Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, New York City, New York, 10038, USA

    Monica M. Palta

  3. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA

    Juliet C. Stromberg

  4. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, PO Box 875502, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA

    Daniel L. Childers

Authors
  1. Amanda K. Suchy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Monica M. Palta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juliet C. Stromberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel L. Childers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amanda K. Suchy.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Author’s Contribution

AKS conceived and designed the study, performed the research, analyzed the data, and led the writing of the manuscript. MMP and DLC provided inputs on study design and provided edits for the manuscript. JCS provided edits for the manuscript.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 131 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Suchy, A.K., Palta, M.M., Stromberg, J.C. et al. High Potential Nitrate Removal by Urban Accidental Wetlands in a Desert City: Limitations and Spatiotemporal Patterns. Ecosystems 23, 1227–1242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00465-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00465-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation