Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline
Coastal eutrophication is a prevalent threat to the healthy functioning of ecosystems globally. While degraded water quality can be detected by monitoring oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and algal abundance, establishing regulatory guidelines is complicated by a lack of baseline data (e.g., pre-Ant...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1257015/full |
| _version_ | 1797691082120626176 |
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| author | Lena K. Champlin Andrea Woolfolk Autumn J. Oczkowski Audrey Rittenhouse Andrew B. Gray Kerstin Wasson Kerstin Wasson Farzana I. Rahman Paula Zelanko Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski Rikke Jeppesen John Haskins Elizabeth B. Watson |
| author_facet | Lena K. Champlin Andrea Woolfolk Autumn J. Oczkowski Audrey Rittenhouse Andrew B. Gray Kerstin Wasson Kerstin Wasson Farzana I. Rahman Paula Zelanko Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski Rikke Jeppesen John Haskins Elizabeth B. Watson |
| author_sort | Lena K. Champlin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coastal eutrophication is a prevalent threat to the healthy functioning of ecosystems globally. While degraded water quality can be detected by monitoring oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and algal abundance, establishing regulatory guidelines is complicated by a lack of baseline data (e.g., pre-Anthropocene). We use historical carbon and nitrogen isoscapes over ~300 years from sediment cores to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in nutrient dynamics for a central California estuary, Elkhorn Slough, where development and agriculture dramatically enhanced nutrient inputs over the past century. We found strong contrasts between current sediment stable isotopes and those from the recent past, demonstrating shifts exceeding those in previously studied eutrophic estuaries and substantial increases in nutrient inputs. Comparisons of contemporary with historical isoscapes also revealed that nitrogen sources shifted from a historical marine-terrestrial gradient with higher δ15N near the inlet to amplified denitrification at the head and mouth of the modern estuary driven by increased N inputs. Geospatial analysis of historical data suggests that an increase in fertilizer application – rather than population growth or increases in the extent of cultivated land – is chiefly responsible for increasing nutrient loads during the 20th century. This study demonstrates the ability of isotopic and stoichiometric maps to provide important perspectives on long-term shifts and spatial patterns of nutrients that can be used to improve management of nutrient pollution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:09:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e0b5fbf111a4809a2b5c323b1c3a8d5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:09:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e0b5fbf111a4809a2b5c323b1c3a8d52023-09-06T17:24:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452023-09-011010.3389/fmars.2023.12570151257015Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baselineLena K. Champlin0Andrea Woolfolk1Autumn J. Oczkowski2Audrey Rittenhouse3Andrew B. Gray4Kerstin Wasson5Kerstin Wasson6Farzana I. Rahman7Paula Zelanko8Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski9Rikke Jeppesen10John Haskins11Elizabeth B. Watson12Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesElkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Royal Oaks, CA, United StatesU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI, United StatesDepartment of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, United StatesElkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Royal Oaks, CA, United StatesEcology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United StatesDepartment of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Sciences and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United StatesElkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Royal Oaks, CA, United StatesElkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Royal Oaks, CA, United StatesDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United StatesCoastal eutrophication is a prevalent threat to the healthy functioning of ecosystems globally. While degraded water quality can be detected by monitoring oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and algal abundance, establishing regulatory guidelines is complicated by a lack of baseline data (e.g., pre-Anthropocene). We use historical carbon and nitrogen isoscapes over ~300 years from sediment cores to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in nutrient dynamics for a central California estuary, Elkhorn Slough, where development and agriculture dramatically enhanced nutrient inputs over the past century. We found strong contrasts between current sediment stable isotopes and those from the recent past, demonstrating shifts exceeding those in previously studied eutrophic estuaries and substantial increases in nutrient inputs. Comparisons of contemporary with historical isoscapes also revealed that nitrogen sources shifted from a historical marine-terrestrial gradient with higher δ15N near the inlet to amplified denitrification at the head and mouth of the modern estuary driven by increased N inputs. Geospatial analysis of historical data suggests that an increase in fertilizer application – rather than population growth or increases in the extent of cultivated land – is chiefly responsible for increasing nutrient loads during the 20th century. This study demonstrates the ability of isotopic and stoichiometric maps to provide important perspectives on long-term shifts and spatial patterns of nutrients that can be used to improve management of nutrient pollution.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1257015/fullnitrogeneutrophicationstable isotopesisoscapessediment coresbaseline |
| spellingShingle | Lena K. Champlin Andrea Woolfolk Autumn J. Oczkowski Audrey Rittenhouse Andrew B. Gray Kerstin Wasson Kerstin Wasson Farzana I. Rahman Paula Zelanko Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski Rikke Jeppesen John Haskins Elizabeth B. Watson Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline Frontiers in Marine Science nitrogen eutrophication stable isotopes isoscapes sediment cores baseline |
| title | Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| title_full | Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| title_fullStr | Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| title_full_unstemmed | Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| title_short | Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| title_sort | use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline |
| topic | nitrogen eutrophication stable isotopes isoscapes sediment cores baseline |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1257015/full |
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