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Stream Nitrate Responds Rapidly to Decreasing Nitrate Deposition

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Abstract

Ecosystem acidification and eutrophication resulting from increased deposition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) are issues of increasing global concern. Consequently, costly policy decisions are being implemented to decrease nitrogen oxide (NO x ) emissions. Although declining DIN deposition along with rapid declines of DIN in surface waters have been reported in parts of Europe, the same observation is just emerging in North America. Here we find a significant decline in bulk deposition NO3 − during the later part of a 28-year record in southcentral Ontario, Canada. Despite high N retention and substantial inter-annual variability in the long-term record due to periods of drought, we find significant declines in annual NO3 − concentrations and export at six out of 11 streams that drain upland-dominated catchments. In contrast, five streams draining primarily wetland-dominated catchments with lower levels of NO3 − show no decreasing trend in NO3 − concentration or export. The rapid response in stream NO3 − to declining atmospheric inputs was observed at sites with historically moderate inputs of DIN (~870 mg m−2 y−1) in bulk deposition. Topographic features such as slope, and related catchment features including wetland cover, appear to influence which catchments will respond positively to declining DIN deposition. These findings force us to revise our original conceptualization of the N saturation status of these catchments.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank countless Ministry of Environment analytical, field and data management crews, in particular Joe Findeis, who have been committed to the sampling and analysis of Dorset streams and bulk deposition over the past three decades. MNF was funded by the Mistra research program Future Forests. We thank G. Weyhenmeyer and several reviewers for their many helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada

    Dolly N. Kothawala & Peter J. Dillon

  2. Environmental Resource Studies Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada

    Dolly N. Kothawala, Shaun A. Watmough & Peter J. Dillon

  3. Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden

    Martyn N. Futter

  4. Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ontario, M3H 5T4, Canada

    Leiming Zhang

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  1. Dolly N. Kothawala
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  2. Shaun A. Watmough
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  3. Martyn N. Futter
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  4. Leiming Zhang
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  5. Peter J. Dillon
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Correspondence to Dolly N. Kothawala.

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Author Contributions

DK wrote the paper and analyzed data; SW contributed to performing research and writing the paper; MF contributed to data analysis and writing the paper; LZ contributed to analyzing deposition data; PD conceived the design of the study and contributed to writing the paper.

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Kothawala, D.N., Watmough, S.A., Futter, M.N. et al. Stream Nitrate Responds Rapidly to Decreasing Nitrate Deposition. Ecosystems 14, 274–286 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9422-1

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