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Addressing pollutant load reduction goals for impaired waterbodies through biomass harvest of Gulf Coast type Phragmites australis (common reed)

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Abstract

A population of “Gulf Coast haplotype” Phragmites australis occurring at the periphery of a hypereutrophic lake in Central Florida was sampled to determine biomass and nutrient stand attributes. This data was also used to investigate harvest potential and timing with respect to sustainable stand management and nutrient removal. This Phragmites type produces biomass and stores nutrients in similar quantities to moderately loaded stands elsewhere however patterns of production, storage, and nutrient translocation differ greatly. The growing season for these stands extended from February to early December. Stands present peak biomass (800–1,200 g m−2) and Phosphorus storage (1.7–1.8 g m−2) both at the very end and beginning of the growing season with a smaller peak in summer; this multi-modal pattern differs from unimodal patterns previously reported. Pulses of available nutrients as the marsh floods may be driving nutrient cycling in concert with seasonality. These morphological and functional patterns provide a flexible harvest strategy. Harvest in either late fall or early spring would address 28 and 23 % of the Lake’s Pollutant Load Reduction Goal, respectively. The dual objectives of maximum nutrient removal and stand sustainability can be met through careful examination of nutrient storage and translocation results gleaned from this study, as well as, ongoing in situ harvest experiments to test emergent hypothesis. This investigation has yielded important baseline data for the little studied Gulf Coast haplotype of P. australis occurring in the southeastern United States as well as a wetland management technique for nutrient reduction in impaired aquatic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

The research supported by a Contract #25420 “Lake Jesup Total Phosphorus (TP) Removal Treatment Technologies: Experimental Phragmites Harvest to Reduce TP in Lake Jesup” from the St. Johns River Water Management District, Florida. The authors thank many from the H. T. Odum Center for Wetlands and the St. Johns Water Management District for their laboratory and field assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. H. T. Odum Center for Wetlands, P.O. Box 116350, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    M. C. Boyd & M. T. Brown

  2. St. Johns River Water Management District, P.O. Box 1429, Palatka, FL, 32178-1429, USA

    Sherry Brandt-Williams

Authors
  1. M. C. Boyd
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  2. M. T. Brown
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  3. Sherry Brandt-Williams
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Correspondence to M. C. Boyd.

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Boyd, M.C., Brown, M.T. & Brandt-Williams, S. Addressing pollutant load reduction goals for impaired waterbodies through biomass harvest of Gulf Coast type Phragmites australis (common reed). Wetlands Ecol Manage 23, 519–533 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-015-9406-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-015-9406-6

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