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The Chemical Composition of Rainfall and Throughfall in Five Forest Communities: A Case Study in Fort Benning, Georgia

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Abstract

In order to investigate the effects of canopy-dependent processes on throughfall chemistry, comparative studies on the chemical composition of throughfall were carried out in five characteristic forest types of the southeastern United States within Fort Benning Military Installation from January 2002 to August 2003. The concentrations and fluxes of and total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total phosphorus (TP) were determined in rainfall and throughfall. Seasonal variations in chemical fluxes were also evaluated. Throughfall concentrations of TOC, TKN, and TP in matured pine stand were higher than in rainfall and other forest stands. Throughfall nutrient concentrations in wetland were lowest as compared to rainfall as well as hardwood, mixed, plantation, and pine stands. The average TOC, TKN, and TP concentrations in the matured pine stand were 17.2, 0.74, and 0.057 mg/L, respectively. In wetland stands, average concentrations of TOC, TKN, and TP were 4.0, 0.54, and 0.034 mg/L, respectively. Hardwood stand had the lowest TKN concentration of 0.53 mg/L. Nutrient fluxes were generally higher during the dormant season (November–April) as compared to the growing season (May–October). The highest and lowest TOC fluxes during dormant season were contributed from pine stand (801.7 g/ha) and wetland stand (186.2 g/ha), respectively. Rainfall was the major contributor of TKN fluxes in growing season (32.3 g/ha) as well as in dormant season (34.1 g/ha). Similarly, highest TP flux was produced in mixed stand (2.7 g/ha) during the dormant season. Enrichment ratios of nutrients reveal that, in general, forest stands used up nutrients during growing season and washed off during the dormant season.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank H. Westbury at Fort Benning for his coordination efforts and Dr. D. L. Price and Dr. M. R. Kress with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for the meteorological data. D. Dindial and C. Campbell are thanked for their efforts in the collection of the field dataset. P. Harmer is thanked for his contribution in the laboratory. We also thank Rajendra Paudel (Ph.D. candidate) and Bidhyananda Yadav (Ph.D. student) at the University of Florida for their help on literature search. This work was supported within the framework of the DoD-DOE-EPA Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, SERDP Ecosystem Management Project, CS-1114A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Shirish Bhat & Malcolm L. Bryant

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Jennifer M. Jacobs

  3. Environmental Consulting and Technology, Inc., Gainesville, FL, 32606, USA

    Shirish Bhat

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  1. Shirish Bhat
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  2. Jennifer M. Jacobs
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Correspondence to Shirish Bhat.

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Bhat, S., Jacobs, J.M. & Bryant, M.L. The Chemical Composition of Rainfall and Throughfall in Five Forest Communities: A Case Study in Fort Benning, Georgia. Water Air Soil Pollut 218, 323–332 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0644-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0644-1

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