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Nitrogen removal in constructed marshes at sites protected from and exposed to waves

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Abstract

Nutrient removal is among the most valuable ecosystem services provided by marshes and is often a stated goal of coastal restoration projects. However, the removal capacity of constructed marshes is potentially affected by several site-specific and design factors, such as marsh platform elevation, slope, sediment type, initial planting density and wave climate. Here, the main and interactive effects of these factors on the capacity of constructed marshes to remove nitrate from runoff was explored in field experiments at sites protected from and exposed to waves. At both sites, three experimental blocks were established, each with 24 treatment combinations of factors in experimental flumes: two platform elevations (high and low), two slopes (steep and shallow), two sediment types (coarse and fine grain), and three initial planting densities (0%, 50% and 100% cover). Nutrient rich (KNO3) groundwater solution was fed through the marsh rhizosphere using subsurface diffusers. The relative effects of treatment combinations were then assessed by analyzing porewater NOx concentrations with ANOVA models. None of the treatment combinations had any observable effect on porewater NOx concentrations at the exposed site. However, both sediment type and planting density were significant main effects at the protected site with the lowest NOx concentrations found in flumes with fine sediments and initially planted. These results confirm that design factors can have large implications on nutrient dynamics of constructed marshes in areas protected from waves and that wave energy can substantially reduce the influence of these design factors.

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Upon acceptance, the authors will publish data and associated metadate on the Mississippi State University Institutional Repository (https://ir.library.msstate.edu/).

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Acknowledgements

In addition to our funders, the authors would like to thank Gillian Palino, Andrew Lucore, Matthew Virden, Haley Moss, Jamie Amato, Aaron Macy, Ellee Temple, Bryan Miller and Jamie Phillips-Temple for their assistance with experimental set up and data collection. In addition, the authors thank partners at the Weeks Bay NERR and the Management Application Team for their assistance with the project.

Funding

Funding for this project was provided US EPA Wetlands Program (Grant Number: CD-00D40115-0) and NOAA—Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Program (GRANT NUMBER: 8200025414).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coastal Research and Extension Center, Mississippi State University, Biloxi, MS, 39532, USA

    Nigel A. Temple, Eric L. Sparks, Sara E. Martin & Daniel C. Firth

  2. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Nigel A. Temple, Eric L. Sparks & Daniel C. Firth

  3. Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Ocean Springs, MS, 39564, USA

    Eric L. Sparks & Sara E. Martin

  4. Northern Gulf Institute, Mississippi State University, Stennis Space Center, MS, 39529, USA

    Just Cebrian

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  1. Nigel A. Temple
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Contributions

ELS and JC designed experiment; NAT, ELS, JC, SEM and DCF implemented experiment and collected data; NAT performed statistical analyses; NAT, ELS, JC, SEM and DCF prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nigel A. Temple.

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Temple, N.A., Sparks, E.L., Cebrian, J. et al. Nitrogen removal in constructed marshes at sites protected from and exposed to waves. Wetlands Ecol Manage 29, 549–564 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-021-09800-0

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