Abstract
Inorganic forms of nitrogen and phosphorus, oxygen levels, suspended solids, and planktonic primary productivity were monitored in Guadalupe River, a major waterway in southeast Texas. Our measurements have shown elevated levels of inorganic nutrients, with soluble reactive phosphorus reaching into 30 μg/L. Curiously, those elevated levels of nutrients combined with unexpectedly high nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P) ratio and low planktonic primary productivity. We attribute those phenomena to suspended solids acting as a selective sink for phosphorus while preventing effective photosynthesis in planktonic algae. At the same time, the potential for nitrogen removal is limited by abundant oxygen present in the water. This combination of low light, selective phosphorus removal, and high oxygen levels suggest that the Guadalupe River is likely to effectively export nitrogen, but not phosphorus into the estuary.
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Acknowledgements
The work was supported in part by NOAA B-WET (grant NA16NMF4630049) to DS and TLC; Victoria County Groundwater Conservation district provided funds to purchase the YSI sonde. High school teachers participating in field training under the above grant assisted with water samples collection and processing. Free open-source software was used for data processing and image production; authors express gratitude to GIMP and OpenOffice development teams. All maps were traced from publically available Google aerial photos. The results and conclusions of this study are solely based on the authors work.
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All authors contributed to this work, with PC doing the bulk of data processing and interpretation, and TLC and DS primarily responsible for study design, sample processing and manuscript preparation.
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Canela, P., Clements, T.L.S. & Sobolev, D. High nitrogen to phosphorus ratio in a Texas coastal river: origins and implications for nutrient pollution sources and exports. J Coast Conserv 24, 46 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-020-00765-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-020-00765-5