Water and Nutrient Balance, Flow/Loading Dynamics in Forest System

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 5889

Special Issue Editors

PhD, PE, Research Hydrologist, USDA Forest Service, Center for Forested Wetlands Research, Cordesville, South Carolina, USA
Interests: Forest and Wetland Hydrology; Surface and groundwater interaction; Evapotranspiration; Water and Watershed Management; Water Quality; Hydrology Modeling; Remote Sensing
PhD, Research Hydrologist, Weyerhaeuser Company, Columbus, Mississippi, USA
Interests: Water Quality; Ecosystem Ecology; Water Resources Management; Soil and Water Conservation Forest Ecology; Watershed Hydrology; Integrated Water Resources Management; Surface Hydrology; Evapotranspiration
PhD, Professor, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Interests: Environment; Water Quality; Environmental Impact Assessment; Soil; Hydrology Geochemistry; Hydrologic and Water Resource Modeling and Simulation; Groundwater; Engineering Geology Nitrogen; Hydrogeology; Surface Water; Denitrification; Soil Carbon

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are an integral component of the landscape, and maintaining their functional integrity is fundamental for the sustainability of ecosystems and societies alike. Forests play an important role in regulating the regional, continental, and global hydrologic and nutrient cycles and patterns. Forests in headwaters, as well as downstream riparian systems, affect net ecosystem water balance, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating and being modified by climate change. Anthropogenic and natural disturbances to forest ecosystems may alter water and nutrient balances in ways that affect biodiversity, water quality, and human health as well as the global climate. Fossil fuel reduction efforts may drive cellulosic-based bioenergy crop production in managed forests, altering water and nutrient balance as well as biodiversity, but only a limited information is available in the literature. Similarly, extreme weather conditions including large amount and high intensity precipitation events and their shifting seasonal dynamics and droughts, as a result of changing climatic pattern, will affect water and nutrient export, yet possible effects are poorly understood. Long-term studies are critical for detecting the deviations in water and nutrient balances and predicting trajectories following natural or management-related shifts in vegetation conditions.

We are, therefore, inviting manuscripts reporting recent research on forest water and nutrients addressing short and long-term interactions and impacts using innovative monitoring, novel data analysis, and advanced modeling techniques.

Dr. Devendra M. Amatya
Dr. Jamie E. Nettles
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Youssef
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Hydrology
  • Water quality
  • Silvicultural operations
  • Nutrient concentrations
  • Surface and subsurface flow and loading
  • Biogeochemical processes
  • Extreme Precipitation
  • Drought
  • Anthropogenic and Natural disturbance
  • Hydrology and water quality modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1774 KiB  
Article
Response of Drainage Water Quality to Fertilizer Applications on a Switchgrass Intercropped Coastal Pine Forest
by Augustine Muwamba, Devendra M. Amatya, George M. Chescheir, Jamie E. Nettles, Timothy Appelboom, Ernest W. Tollner, Hebert Ssegane, Mohamed A. Youssef, Francois Birgand and Timothy Callahan
Water 2020, 12(5), 1265; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051265 - 29 Apr 2020
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Abstract
The objectives of this study were (1) to test the hypothesis that fertilizer applications do not increase nutrient fluxes on a switchgrass/pine forest (IC) when compared to a mature pine forest (MP) and (2) to evaluate post-fertilization (post-fert, 2014–2016) fluxes of nitrogen (N) [...] Read more.
The objectives of this study were (1) to test the hypothesis that fertilizer applications do not increase nutrient fluxes on a switchgrass/pine forest (IC) when compared to a mature pine forest (MP) and (2) to evaluate post-fertilization (post-fert, 2014–2016) fluxes of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on IC and compare them to those observed during switchgrass growth prior to fertilization (pre-fert, 2012–2014) and site preparation for switchgrass establishment (site prep, 2009–2012). Nitrogen and P were applied to IC, a paired pure switchgrass site (SG), and MP, each about 25 ha in size, in June 2014, and again in June 2015 for the IC and SG sites only. Nitrogen and P concentrations were measured biweekly and rainfall and drainage outflow were measured continuously. During post-fert, the mean N concentrations and total loads were lower (p < 0.05) in IC than in SG and MP. The mean NO3-N concentration and loads in IC were lower during post-fert than during site prep. The post-fert phosphate concentrations in IC were lower than they were during pre-fert and site prep. Frequent N and P applications in IC did not significantly (α = 0.05) increase N and P fluxes, likely due to plant uptake and sorption on the acidic site. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Nutrient Balance, Flow/Loading Dynamics in Forest System)
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23 pages, 2321 KiB  
Article
Assessment of the Impact of Forestry and Settlement-Forest Use of the Catchments on the Parameters of Surface Water Quality: Case Studies for Chechło Reservoir Catchment, Southern Poland
by Andrzej Bogdał, Andrzej Wałęga, Tomasz Kowalik and Agnieszka Cupak
Water 2019, 11(5), 964; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11050964 - 08 May 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3223
Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the values of 22 quality indicators of surface waters flowing out of two small catchments differing in physiographic parameters and land use, in particular forest cover and [...] Read more.
The aim of the study was to determine the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the values of 22 quality indicators of surface waters flowing out of two small catchments differing in physiographic parameters and land use, in particular forest cover and urbanization of the area. The research was carried out in the years 2012–2014 at four measurement-control points located on the Chechło river and the Młoszówka stream (Poland), which are the main tributaries of the retention reservoir. Basic descriptive statistics, statistical tests, as well as cluster analysis and factor analysis were used to interpret the research results. The water that outflowed from the forestry-settlement catchment of the Młoszówka stream contained higher concentrations of total phosphorus, phosphates, nitrite, and nitrate nitrogen and salinity indicators than outflow from the Chechło river. Water from the Młoszówka stream was characterized by more favourable oxygen conditions. Higher oxygen concentration in the catchment influenced a large slope of the watercourse and thus higher water velocity, which is promoted by the mixed process. In the case of the forest catchment of the Chechło river, the water quality was generally better than in the Młoszówka stream, mainly in cases of total suspended solids TSS, total phosphorus TP, phosphates PO43−, total nitrogen TN, nitrite N–NO2, nitrate N–NO3, and salinity parameters. Despite it being a short section of the river taken into the study, favourable self-purification processes like mixed, nitrification, and denitrification were observed in its water. The research shows that forest areas have a positive effect on the balance of most substances dissolved in water, and natural factors in many cases shape the quality and utility values of surface waters on an equal footing with anthropogenic factors. In the case of a large number of examined parameters and complex processes occurring in water, the interpretation of the results makes it much easier by applying multivariate statistical methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Nutrient Balance, Flow/Loading Dynamics in Forest System)
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