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The purpose of this research project is to develop sensitive, reliable, rapid, and inexpensive indicators of ecological integrity for use in large-scale ecosystem management and restoration. Biogeochemical processes are good candidates for efficient indicators of ecological integrity because they are potentially very sensitive. They are also likely to be highly reliable in that ecological changes at this fundamental level will affect all species utilizing the ecosystem. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that rates of biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (C, N, and P) in wetlands can be used to indicate the ecological integrity of wetlands, and that the concentrations of certain forms of these elements can accurately predict the rates of ecologically important processes. Objectives: - Identify the key biogeochemical processes impacted by nutrient loading and measure the rates of these processes along the nutrient gradient.
- Develop relationships between a process and its related easily measurable indicator.
- Determine the spatial and temporal distribution of easily measurable indicators for a test wetland ecosystem.
- Determine the spatial variations in biogeochemical processes, and develop spatial maps for various processes to determine the extent of impact and risk assessment.
- Validate the predictability of empirical relationships by making independent measurements of biogeochemical processes in different wetland ecosystems.
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| Title: | Biogeochemical Indicators of Watershed Integrity and Wetland Eutrophication |
| Authors: | Reddy, K. R., Prenger, J. P., Fisher, M. M., Grunwald, S., Ogram, A., Graham, W. D., Lowe, E. F. and L. W. Keenan |
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