Phosphorus dynamics in groundwater-fed rivers
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Lancaster Environment Centre
Abstract
Reducing diffuse nutrient pollution is a prime focus of measures to improve the environmental status of UK rivers. In groundwater-fed rivers, processes operating in the hyporheic zone (HZ) and its interchange with surface waters (SW) are key drivers of the ecological health of the river. The HZ is the subsurface region beneath, or adjacent to, a SW body where mixing occurs with groundwater (GW). This zone is hydrologically, geochemically and microbiologically complex. Large redox-driven concentration gradients exist across the sediment-water interface. The resulting potential for complete consumption of dissolved oxygen in hyporheic flowpaths 10-100 cm into the streambed creates areas where anaerobic microorganisms dominate microbial activity, which in turn control the bioavailability of redox-sensitive elements such as nitrogen (N) and, indirectly, phosphorus (P). The retention/release of P through interaction between HZ flows and in-river (SW) processes may be particularly important because elevated P concentrations have been linked to increased rates of plant growth, changes in species composition and proliferation of planktonic and epiphytic and epibenthic algae in rivers. Such rivers often fail to meet the standards of the EU Water Framework Directive necessitating the introduction of expensive mitigation measures. These measures can only succeed if we understand the processes controlling the ecological health of the river. This project seeks to unravel these controls in relation to P dynamics in groundwater-fed rivers.The focus in on understanding of the temporal variation in nutrient processes in groundwater-fed rivers.
Organisations
Publications
Heathwaite A
(2020)
Fingerprinting hydrological and biogeochemical drivers of freshwater quality
in Hydrological Processes
Bieroza MZ
(2018)
The concentration-discharge slope as a tool for water quality management.
in The Science of the total environment
Bieroza MZ
(2016)
Unravelling organic matter and nutrient biogeochemistry in groundwater-fed rivers under baseflow conditions: Uncertainty in in situ high-frequency analysis.
in The Science of the total environment
Bieroza M
(2015)
Seasonal variation in phosphorus concentration-discharge hysteresis inferred from high-frequency in situ monitoring
in Journal of Hydrology
Bieroza, M.Z.
(2014)
Understanding diffuse pollution in agricultural catchments
in International Innovation, Environmnet, Issue 125
Bieroza MZ
(2014)
Understanding nutrient biogeochemistry in agricultural catchments: the challenge of appropriate monitoring frequencies.
in Environmental science. Processes & impacts
Reaney S
(2011)
Risk-based modelling of diffuse land use impacts from rural landscapes upon salmonid fry abundance
in Ecological Modelling
Description | Automated high-frequency sampling in water quality monitoring From pattern recognition to biogeochemical process inference, M.Z. Bieroza & A.L. Heathwaite July 23, 2013 IAHS, Gothenburg, Sweden |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Discussion following the presentation. Good questions and answer session. Developing collaborations with researchers as a result of the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Automated in situ high-frequency nutrient monitoring From pattern recognition to biogeochemical process inference, Bieroza MZ & Heathwaite AL December 19, 2013, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden . |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Disseminating results from NERC funded project and discussing. Collaboration with Swedish research team. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Bieroza, M. Z. & Heathwaite, A. L. 2016, Seasonal variation in flow-nutrient dynamics inferred from high-resolution in situ monitoring, Diffuse Pollution and Catchment Management, IWA (Dublin, IE), oral presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bieroza, M. Z. & Heathwaite, A. L. 2016, Seasonal variation in flow-nutrient dynamics inferred from high-resolution in situ monitoring, Diffuse Pollution and Catchment Management, IWA (Dublin, IE), oral presentation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Bieroza, M. Z. and Heathwaite, A. L. 2017, Two tales of legacy effects on stream nutrient behaviour. AGU New Orleans, Dec 2017, poster presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bieroza, M. Z. and Heathwaite, A. L. 2017, Two tales of legacy effects on stream nutrient behaviour. AGU New Orleans, Dec 2017, poster presentation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Bieroza, M. Z., Heathwaite, A. L., Kyllmar, K., Köhler, S. and Bergström, L. In situ automated water quality monitoring in agricultural catchments in England and Sweden: The value of high temporal resolution monitoring, International Workshop on High-temporal Resolution Monitoring, Aarhus University (Sandbjerg, DE), oral presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bieroza, M. Z., Heathwaite, A. L., Kyllmar, K., Köhler, S. and Bergström, L. In situ automated water quality monitoring in agricultural catchments in England and Sweden: The value of high temporal resolution monitoring, International Workshop on High-temporal Resolution Monitoring, Aarhus University (Sandbjerg, DE), oral presentation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Bieroza, M., Heathwaite, A. L., Bechmann, M., Kyllmar, K. and Jordan, P. 2018, The concentration-discharge slope as a tool for water quality management. European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, 8-13 April. Oral presentation. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bieroza, M., Heathwaite, A. L., Bechmann, M., Kyllmar, K. and Jordan, P. 2018, The concentration-discharge slope as a tool for water quality management. European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, 8-13 April. Oral presentation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Bieroza, M.Z. 2016, Macronutrient interactions in groundwater-fed streams - controls of diffuse pollution, Macronutrient Cycles Conference, NERC (Royal Society London, UK), Keynote speech |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Bieroza M. Z. 2016, Macronutrient interactions in groundwater-fed streams - controls of diffuse pollution, Macronutrient Cycles Conference, NERC (Royal Society London, UK), Keynote speech |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Biogeochemical processing of nutrients in groundwater-fed stream during baseflow conditions - the value of fluorescence spectroscopy and automated high-frequency nutrient monitoring. M.Z. Bieroza & A.L. Heathwaite, EGU May 2014 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Discussion sparked as a result of the talk. Journal paper publication in preparation based on presentation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2014/session/15261 |
Description | Capturing temporal variation in phosphorus dynamics in groundwater dominated rivers using automated high-frequency sampling, M.Z. Bieroza, A.L. Heathwaite, N.J. Mullinger, P.O. Keenan, EGU 2012 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Sparked discussion and questions Publication |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2012/poster_programme/10292 |
Description | Difuse pollution in groundwater-dominated agricultural catchments, British Hydrological Society, National Symposium, 3/09/2014, Bieroza, MZ & Heathwaite AL |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Talk sparked good discussion afterwards. The presentation will be published in Hydrology Research as a special issue, to be submitted March 2015 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | In-stream nutrient dynamics observed by automated high-frequency monitoring (River Leith, Cumbria, UK), M.Z. Bieroza and A.L. Heathwaite, BHS July 2012, Dundee |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Promoted discussion and questions. Publication |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://www.hydrology.org.uk/assets/Contents.pdf |
Description | Nitrogen and Phosphorus dynamics in a groundwater-fed river from high-frequency automated sampling. River Leith, Cumbria, UK, LEC March 2012, seminar, Bieroza, MZ |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Discussion and questions after talk Collaborations within LEC developed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | The value of automated high-frequency nutrient monitoring in inference of biogeochemical processes, temporal variability and trends, M.Z. Bieroza & A.L. Heathwaite, EGU 2013 April |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Talk sparked questions and discussion afterwards Publication was created based on the presentation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2013/orals/11738 |
Description | The value of fluorescence spectroscopy and automated high-frequency nutrient monitoring in understanding of biogeochemical processes in groundwater-fed stream, M.Z. Bieroza & A.L. Heathwaite, WOMS 2013 July France |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Talk sparked interest and questions afterwards. Publication in preparation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://woms13.univ-tln.fr/ |
Description | Understanding nutrient and organic matter biogeochemistry in a groundwater-dominated agricultural stream, Bieroza, M. Z. & Heathwaite, A.L., NOM 6 - IWA Specialist Conference on Natural Organic Matter in Water Malmo, Sweden, 7-10 September 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Unravelling organic matter and nutrient biogeochemistry in groundwater-fed rivers under baseflow conditions: controls on in situ analysis - poster presentation. Bieroza, M. Z. and Heathwaite, A. L. AGU General Assembly December 2015, San Francisco, USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |