Understanding nutrient biogeochemistry in agricultural catchments: the challenge of appropriate monitoring frequencies.
We evaluate different frequencies of riverine nutrient concentration measurement to interpret diffuse pollution in agricultural catchments. We focus on three nutrient fractions, nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), total reactive phosphorus (TRP) and total phosphorus (TP) observed using conventional remote laboratory-based, low-frequency sampling and automated, in situ high-frequency monitoring. We demonstrate the value of low-frequency routine nutrient monitoring in providing long-term data on changes in surface water and groundwater nutrient concentrations. By contrast, automated high-frequency nutrient observations provide insight into the fine temporal structure of nutrient dynamics in response to a full spectrum of flow dynamics. We found good agreement between concurrent in situ and laboratory-based determinations for nitrate-nitrogen (Pearson's R = 0.93, p < 0.01). For phosphorus fractions: TP (R = 0.84, p < 0.01) and TRP (R = 0.79, p < 0.01) the relationships were poorer due to the underestimation of P fractions observed in situ and storage-related changes of grab samples. A detailed comparison between concurrent nutrient data obtained by the hourly in situ automated monitoring and weekly-to-fortnightly grab sampling reveals a significant information loss at the extreme range of nutrient concentration for low-frequency sampling.
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK. m.bieroza@lancaster.ac.uk.
M Z
MZ
Bieroza
A L
AL
Heathwaite
N J
NJ
Mullinger
P O
PO
Keenan
D000383:Agriculture; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen