| Abstract |
Runoff containing excess nutrients from agricultural land use causes eutrophic conditions in freshwater systems, including harmful algal blooms. The nutrient storage capacity of wetlands may help mitigate recurring annual harmful algal blooms that the Western Basin of Lake Erie experiences due to excess phosphorus (P) loads. Wetlands are hot spots of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and P cycling, and wetland plants temporarily store C, N, and P. We investigate how plant tissue chemistry (total P, total organic C, and total organic N) varies by plant taxa and tissue type (leaf vs. stem) within a well preserved Lake Erie coastal wetland. In the summer of 2019, we sampled aboveground plant tissues of two plant types in the Old Woman Creek estuary wetland: emergent plants (Phragmites and Typha), and floating leaf plants (Nelumbo and Nymphaea) to measure total C, N, and P concentrations of plant biomass as an index of plant nutrient storage. We predict that the emergent plant types (Phragmites, Typha) will have higher C and N concentrations than the floating leaf plant types (Nelumbo, Nymphaea) due to their higher allocation to structural tissues like rigid stems. We also predict that there will be higher P concentrations in the leaf tissues than in the stem tissues of all plant types. Plant tissue chemistry improves understanding of nutrient storage capacity of different plant types, thus informing wetlands preservation and management decisions.
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| Modified Abstract |
Runoff containing excess nutrients from agricultural land use causes eutrophic conditions in freshwater systems, including harmful algal blooms (HABs). The nutrient storage capacity of wetlands may help mitigate recurring annual HABs that the Western Basin of Lake Erie experiences due to excess phosphorus (P) loads. We investigate how plant tissue chemistry (total P, total organic C, total organic N) varies by plant taxa and tissue type (leaf, stem) within a well preserved Lake Erie coastal wetland. In the summer of 2019, we sampled aboveground plant tissues of two plant types in the Old Woman Creek estuary wetland: emergent plants (Phragmites, Typha), and floating leaf plants (Nelumbo, Nymphaea) to measure total C, N, and P concentrations of plant biomass as an index of plant nutrient storage.
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