Skip to main content
Log in

Woody Vegetation Removal Stimulates Riparian and Benthic Denitrification in Tallgrass Prairie

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Expansion of woody vegetation into areas that were historically grass-dominated is a significant contemporary threat to grasslands, including native tallgrass prairie ecosystems of the Midwestern United States. In tallgrass prairie, much of this woody expansion is concentrated in riparian zones with potential impacts on biogeochemical processes there. Although the effects of woody riparian vegetation on denitrification in both riparian soils and streams have been well studied in naturally wooded ecosystems, less is known about the impacts of woody vegetation encroachment in ecosystems that were historically dominated by herbaceous vegetation. Here, we analyze the effect of afforestation and subsequent woody plant removal on riparian and benthic denitrification. Denitrification rates in riparian soil and selected benthic compartments were measured seasonally in naturally grass-dominated riparian zones, woody encroached riparian zones, and riparian zones with woody vegetation removed in two separate watersheds. Riparian soil denitrification was highly seasonal, with the greatest rates in early spring. Benthic denitrification also exhibited high temporal variability, but no seasonality. Soil denitrification rates were greatest in riparian zones where woody vegetation was removed. Additionally, concentrations of nitrate, carbon, and soil moisture (indicative of potential anoxia) were greatest in wood removal soils. Differences in the presence and abundance of benthic compartments reflected riparian vegetation, and may have indirectly affected denitrification in streams. Riparian soil denitrification increased with soil water content and NO3 . Management of tallgrass prairies that includes removal of woody vegetation encroaching on riparian areas may alter biogeochemical cycling by increasing nitrogen removed via denitrification while the restored riparian zones return to a natural grass-dominated state.

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

Access this article

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
Figure 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Public Health Association (APHA). 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th ed. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.

  • Arango CP, Tank JL. 2008. Land use influences the spatiotemporal controls on nitrification and denitrification in headwater streams. J N Am Benthol Soc 27:90–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arango CP, Tank JL, Schaller JL, Royer TV, Bernot MJ, David MB. 2007. Benthic organic carbon influences denitrification in streams with high nitrate concentration. Freshw Biol 52:1210–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bernot MJ, Dodds WK, Gardner WS, McCarthy MJ, Sobolev D, Tank JL. 2003. Comparing denitrification estimates for a Texas estuary by using acetylene inhibition and membrane inlet mass spectrometry. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:5950–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blair JM. 1997. Fire, N availability, and plant response in grasslands: a test of the transient maxima hypothesis. Ecology 78:2359–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brock TD. 1961. Chloramphenicol. Bacteriol Rev 25:32–48.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs JM, Knapp AK, Blair JM, Heisler JL, Hoch GA, Lett MS, McCarron JK. 2005. An ecosystem in transition: causes and consequences of the conversion of mesic grassland to shrubland. Bioscience 55:243–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Caraco NF, Correll DL, Howarth RW, Sharpley AN, Smith VH. 1998. Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorous and nitrogen. Ecol Appl 8:559–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claessens L, Tague CL, Groffman PM, Melack JM. 2010. Longitudinal and seasonal variation of stream N uptake in an urbanizing watershed: effect of organic matter, stream size, transient storage and debris dams. Biogeochemistry 98:45–62.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cross WF, Benstead JP, Frost PC, Thomas SA. 2005. Ecological stoichiometry in freshwater benthic systems: recent progress and perspectives. Freshw Biol 50:1895–912.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dell CJ, Williams MA, Rice CW. 2005. Partitioning of nitrogen over five growing seasons in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 86:1280–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillaha TA, Reneau RB, Mostaghimi S, Lee D. 1989. Vegetative filter strips for agricultural nonpoint source pollution control. Trans Am Soc Agric Eng 32:513–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK. 1997. Distribution of runoff and rivers related to vegetative characteristics, latitude, and slope: a global perspective. J N Am Benthol Soc 16:162–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK. 2003. Misuse of inorganic N and soluble reactive P concentrations to indicate nutrient status of surface waters. J N Am Benthol Soc 22:171–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Oakes RM. 2006. Controls on nutrients across a prairie stream watershed: land use and riparian cover effects. Environ Manage 37:634–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Evans-White MA, Gerlanc NM, Gray L, Gudder DA, Kemp MJ, Lopez AL, Stagliano D, Strauss EA, Tank JL, Whiles MR, Wollheim WM. 2000. Quantification of the nitrogen cycle in a prairie stream. Ecosystems 3:574–89.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Gido K, Whiles MR, Fritz KM, Matthews WJ. 2004. Life on the edge: the ecology of Great Plains prairie streams. Bioscience 54:205–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Bouska WW, Eitzmann JL, Pilger TJ, Pitts KL, Riley AJ, Schloesser JT, Thornbrugh DJ. 2009. Eutrophication of US Freshwaters: analysis of potential economic damages. Environ Sci Technol 43:12–19.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fornara DA, Tilman D, Hobbie SE. 2009. Linkages between plant functional composition, fine root processes and potential soil N mineralization rates. J Ecol 97:48–56.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz KM, Dodds WK. 1999. The effects of bison crossings on the macroinvertebrate community in a tallgrass prairie stream. Am Midl Nat 141:253–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Rice CW, Tiedje JM. 1993. Denitrification in a tallgrass prairie landscape. Ecology 74:855–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Holland E, Myrold DD, Robertson GP, Zou X. 1999. Denitrification. In: Robertson GP, Bledsoe CS, Coleman DC, Sollines P, Eds. Standard soil methods for long term ecological research. New York: Oxford University Press. p 272–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM, Altabet MA, Böhlke JK, Butterbach-Bahl K, David MB, Firestone MK, Giblin AE, Kana TM, Nielsen LP, Voytek MA. 2006. Methods for measuring denitrification: diverse approaches to a difficult problem. Ecol Appl 16:2091–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haycock NE, Pinay G. 1993. Groundwater nitrate dynamics in grass and poplar vegetated riparian buffer strips during the winter. J Environ Qual 22:273–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan JB, Cohen MJ. 2010. Direct and indirect coupling of primary production and diel nitrate dynamics in a subtropical spring-fed river. Limnol Oceanogr 55:677–88.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hill AR. 1996. Nitrate removal in stream riparian zones. J Environ Qual 25:743–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs NT. 1996. Modification of ecosystems by ungulates. J Wildl Manage 60:695–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs NT, Schimel DS, Owensby CE, Ojima DS. 1991. Fire and grazing in the tallgrass prairie: contingent effects on nitrogen budgets. Ecology 72:1374–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inwood SE, Tank JL, Bernot MJ. 2007. Factors controlling sediment denitrification in Midwestern streams of varying land use. Microb Ecol 53:247–58.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ishida CK, Arnon S, Peterson CG, Kelly JJ, Gray KA. 2008. Influence of algal community structure on denitrification rates in periphyton cultivated on artificial substrata. Microb Ecol 56:140–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LC, Matchett JR. 2001. Fire and grazing regulate belowground processes in tallgrass prairie. Ecol 82:3377–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LB, Richards C, Host GE, Arthur JW. 1997. Landscape influences on water chemistry in Midwestern stream ecosystems. Freshw Biol 37:193–208.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann JB, Cumming DL, Ward DE. 1994. Relationships of fire, biomass and nutrient dynamics along a vegetation gradient in the Brazilian Cerrado. J Ecol 82:519–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaushal SS, Groffman PM, Mayer PM, Striz E, Gold AJ. 2008. Effects of stream restoration on denitrification in an urbanizing watershed. Ecol Appl 18:789–804.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp MJ, Dodds WK. 2001a. Centimeter-scale patterns in dissolved oxygen and nitrification rates in a prairie stream. J N Am Benthol Soc 20:347–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp MJ, Dodds WK. 2001b. Spatial and temporal patterns of nitrogen concentrations in pristine and agriculturally-influenced prairie streams. Biogeochemistry 53:125–41.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp MJ, Dodds WK. 2002. Comparisons of nitrification and denitrification in prairie and agriculturally influenced streams. Ecol Appl 12:998–1009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Seastedt TR. 1986. Detritus accumulation limits productivity of tallgrass prairie. Bioscience 36:662–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight CL, Briggs JM, Nellis MD. 1994. Expansion of gallery forest on Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, Kansas, USA. Landscape Ecol 9:117–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y, Domanski G. 2000. Carbon input by plants into the soil. Review. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 163:421–31.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons J, Trimble SW, Paine LK. 2000. Grass versus trees: managing riparian areas to benefit streams of central North America. J Am Water Resour Assoc 36:919–30.

    Article  CAS  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.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, Helton AM, Poole GC, Hall RO, Hamilton SK, Peterson BJ, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN, Dodds WK, Findlay SEG, Gregory SV, Grimm NB, Johnson SL, McDowell WH, Meyer JL, Valett HM, Webster JR, Arango CP, Beaulieu JJ, Bernot MJ, Burgin AJ, Crenshaw CL, Johnson LT, Niederlehner BR, O’Brien JM, Potter JD, Sheibley RW, Sobota DJ, Thomas SM. 2008. Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to anthropogenic nitrate loading. Nature 452:202–5.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Newbold JD, Herbert S, Sweeney BW, Kiry P, Alberts SJ. 2010. Water quality functions of a 15-year-old riparian forest buffer system1. J Am Water Resour Assoc 46:299–310.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Norris MD, Blair JM, Johnson LC. 2007. Altered ecosystem nitrogen dynamics as a consequence of land cover change in tallgrass prairie. Am Midl Nat 158:432–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service). 1997. Riparian forest buffer. Conservation Practices Sheet 391. US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.

  • Orr CH, Stanley EH, Wilson KA, Finlay JC. 2007. Effects of restoration and reflooding on soil denitrification in a leveed Midwestern floodplain. Ecol Appl 17:2365–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne LL, Kovacic DA. 1993. Riparian vegetated buffer strips in water-quality restoration and stream management. Freshw Biol 29:243–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BJ, Wollheim WM, Mulholland PJ, Webster JR, Meyer JL, Tank JL, Marti E, Bowden WB, Valett HM, Hershey AE, McDowell WH, Dodds WK, Hamilton SK, Gregory S, Morrall DD. 2001. Control of nitrogen export from watersheds by headwater streams. Science 292:86–90.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piña-Ochoa E, Álvarez-Cobelas M. 2006. Denitrification in aquatic environments: a cross-system analysis. Biogeochemistry 81:111–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinay G, Roques L, Fabre A. 1993. Spatial and temporal patterns of denitrification in a riparian forest. J Appl Ecol 30:581–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riley AJ, Dodds WK. 2012. The expansion of woody riparian vegetation, and subsequent stream restoration, influences the metabolism of prairie streams. Freshw Biol 57:1138–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson GP, Vitousek PM, Matson PA, Tiedje JM. 1987. Denitrification in a clearcut Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation in the southeastern US. Plant Soil 97:119–29.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rygiewicz PT, Anderson CP. 1994. Mycorrhizae alter quality and quantity of carbon allocated below ground. Nature 369:58–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samson F, Knopf F. 1994. Prairie conservation in North-America. Bioscience 44:418–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MS, Tiedje JM. 1979. Phases of denitrification following oxygen depletion in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 11:261–7.

    Article  CAS  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.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner CL, Blair JM, Schartz RJ, Neel JC. 1997. Soil N and plant responses to fire, topography, and supplemental N in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 78:1832–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). 2002. National water quality inventory: 2000 Report. EPA/841/R-01/001. Office of Water, Washington, DC.

  • Vidon P, Allan C, Burns D, Duval TP, Gurwick N, Inamdar S, Lowrance R, Okay J, Scott D, Sebestyen S. 2010. Hot spots and hot moments in riparian zones: potential for improved water quality management 1. J Am Water Resour Assoc 46:278–98.

    Article  CAS  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 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Arango, J. Taylor, and R. Ramundo for laboratory assistance. Identification of vegetation was performed by B. Vanderweide. We thank the volunteers who assisted with woody vegetation removal. This manuscript was greatly improved by two anonymous reviews. This research was supported by the NSF Long Term Ecological Research Program at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Grant # DEB-0823341 and Kansas State University. This is publication #12-465-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander J. Reisinger.

Additional information

Author Contributions

AJR designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. JMB provided analytical equipment, helped design the study, and extensively revised the manuscript. CWR provided analytical equipment, helped design the study, and revised the manuscript. WKD provided analytical equipment, conceived of and designed the study, and provided extensive revision of the manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reisinger, A.J., Blair, J.M., Rice, C.W. et al. Woody Vegetation Removal Stimulates Riparian and Benthic Denitrification in Tallgrass Prairie. Ecosystems 16, 547–560 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9630-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9630-3

Keywords

Navigation