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Traditional land use effects on nutrient export from watersheds to coastal seas

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Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Land use features can have a significant impact on the flux and stoichiometry of nutrients from the watershed to the sea along the freshwater continuum. Traditional agricultural watersheds designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) may have unique features on nutrient dynamics. Here, we conducted seasonal, high-resolution spatial surveys for concentrations of dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and nitrogen (DIN) and stable isotopes of water and nitrate of the GIAHS in Japan (Kunisaki Peninsula). The highest upstream DIN concentrations (mean = 83 μM) were observed in the non-irrigation period in autumn. 17O isotopes of nitrate suggested that microbial nitrification in forest soil was the primary source (> 95%) of total nitrate. Spatial differences in DIP and DIN concentrations among the upstream, midstream, and downstream waters were small, with high DIN/DIP ratios (> 50) were exported from the watershed to coastal seas. Nutrient concentrations exhibited different dynamics during summer when irrigation was taking place with average DIP concentrations increasing from upstream (0.5 μM) to downstream (2.1 μM) waters. A generalized linear model showed that the proportion of paddy fields, cultivated land, residential area as well as forest were the primary drivers of DIP concentrations. DIN concentrations decreased moving downstream likely due to denitrification in the anaerobic irrigation ponds and paddy fields. This study showed that the traditional agricultural landscapes mitigated the excess DIN loading from forested areas while supplying the essential DIP for coastal production, suggesting an important forest-river-sea connection system that manages nutrient inputs to coastal waters.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant No. 26310308 and 16H02563) and Oita Prefectural Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Marine Bioresources, Fukui Prefectural University, 49-8-2 Katsumi, Obama, Fukui, 917-0116, Japan

    Ryo Sugimoto, Takahito Rihei & Takeru Hirai

  2. Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1, Minato-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 041-8611, Japan

    Akihide Kasai

  3. Southern Cross Geoscience, Southern Cross University, P.O. Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia

    Douglas R. Tait

  4. Geo-Science Laboratory Co. Ltd., Nagoya, Aichi, 468-0007, Japan

    Kazuyoshi Asai

  5. Northern Fisheries Group, Fisheries Research Division, Oita Prefectural Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Center, Kuresaki 3386, Bungo-Takada, Oita, Japan

    Yuji Tamura

  6. Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Yoh Yamashita

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  1. Ryo Sugimoto
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  2. Akihide Kasai
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Contributions

RS, AK, YT and YY designed the study. RS, TR, and TH performed the field survey. TR, TH, and KA performed the laboratory analysis. RS, DT and AK drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ryo Sugimoto.

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Sugimoto, R., Kasai, A., Tait, D.R. et al. Traditional land use effects on nutrient export from watersheds to coastal seas. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 119, 7–21 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-020-10102-9

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