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Influences of climate, hydrology, and land use on input and export of nitrogen in California watersheds

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Abstract

Human activities have greatly increased the input of biologically available nitrogen (N) from land-based sources to aquatic ecosystems; yet few studies have examined how human actions influence N export in regions with a strong seasonality in water availability. In this study, we quantified N inputs and outputs for 23 California watersheds and examined how climate, hydrology, and land use practices influenced watershed N export. N inputs ranged from 581 to 11,234 kg N km−2 year−1 among watersheds, with 80% of total input for the region originating from agriculture (inorganic fertilizer, manure, and legumes). Of the potential N sources examined, mean annual concentrations of dissolved organic N and dissolved inorganic N in study rivers correlated most strongly with manure N input (r 2 = 0.54 and 0.53, respectively). Seasonal N export varied by basin and was correlated with climate, anthropogenic N inputs, and reservoir releases. Fractional export of watershed N inputs by study rivers annually was small (median of 8%) and scaled exponentially with runoff (r = 0.66). Collectively, our results show that anthropogenic activities have altered both the magnitude and timing of watershed N export in California and suggest that targeted management in specific locations and times of the year could reduce N export to downstream systems in the region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank C. Kratzer who provided helpful discussion regarding data sources and interpretation as well as two anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments greatly improved the manuscript. This work was supported by a grant to J. A. Harrison from California Sea Grant (award number RSF8), from the US Geological Survey 104b program, and from NASA (Grant no. xxx). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Sea Grant, the US Geological Survey, NASA, or other funding agencies.

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  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Vancouver Campus, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue, Vancouver, WA, 98686, USA

    Daniel J. Sobota & John A. Harrison

  2. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Randy A. Dahlgren

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  1. Daniel J. Sobota
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  2. John A. Harrison
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Correspondence to Daniel J. Sobota.

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Sobota, D.J., Harrison, J.A. & Dahlgren, R.A. Influences of climate, hydrology, and land use on input and export of nitrogen in California watersheds. Biogeochemistry 94, 43–62 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9307-y

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