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The Effect of Chronic High Groundwater Nitrate Loading on Riparian Forest Growth and Plant–Soil Processes

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Abstract

The effect of chronic high groundwater nitrate loading on riparian forests is poorly understood. The growth patterns of northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) and related plant–soil processes were examined at four riparian sites in southern Ontario, Canada which have similar vegetation, soils, and hydrology but have differed in adjacent land use for >60 years. Fertilized cropland at two riparian sites produced groundwater-fed surface flows with high mean NO3–N concentrations of 9 and 31 mg l−1, whereas mean concentrations were <0.5 mg l−1 at two control sites down slope from forest. Tree-ring analysis at the two nitrate-rich sites indicated a positive growth trend in 1980–2004 and an absence of a positive growth trend in the 1945–1970 period that preceded high rates of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use on cropland. However, a significant increase in growth also occurred in 1980–2004 at the two control riparian sites suggesting that high groundwater nitrate inputs did not influence tree growth. Cedar foliar and litter N content did not differ significantly between the high nitrate and control sites. Litter decomposition rates measured by the litterbag technique at a nitrate-enriched and control site were similar. Litter from a high nitrate and a control site produced a similar rate of potential denitrification in lab incubations of riparian surface peat. This study indicates that prolonged nitrate inputs in groundwater did not increase nitrogen uptake and growth of white cedar or stimulate decomposition and denitrification as a result of changes in the quality of plant material. In the absence of anthropogenic nitrate inputs, riparian wetland soils are typically high in ammonium and low in nitrate, and as a consequence, white cedar may have a limited ability to utilize nitrate.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mark Blackwell, Luciella Longo, Agnieska Groszkowska, and Daniel Ferreira for their assistance in the field and Jackson Langat for lab assistance. Thanks are also due to Carolyn King in the York Geography Department cartographic office for the figures. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. The research was supported by grants from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to A. R. Hill.

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  1. Department of Geography, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Dianne Bravo & Alan R. Hill

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  1. Dianne Bravo
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Correspondence to Alan R. Hill.

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Bravo, D., Hill, A.R. The Effect of Chronic High Groundwater Nitrate Loading on Riparian Forest Growth and Plant–Soil Processes. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 73–84 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-011-0840-7

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