Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2012NC168B

Evaluation of the P Balance of a Restored, Previously Farmed Wetland

Institute: North Carolina
Year Established: 2012 Start Date: 2012-03-01 End Date: 2013-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $31,078 Total Non-Federal Funds: $43,422

Principal Investigators: Michael Vepraskas, Jeffrey White

Project Summary: To ensure that wetland restoration practices do not contribute to pollution of nutrient sensitive streams, a better understanding of P fluxes into, within, and out of wetlands restored from agricultural land is needed. The primary objectives for this study are to: i) determine the change in soil total P (TPsoil) over the 8 years since the study site was restored to wetland, ii) determine P fluxes into and out of the wetland that affect TPsoil, iii) combine objectives i and ii to create a P-balance, and iv) evaluate the accuracy of the P balance by calculating the error in the P-balance, fluxes, and change in P storage. The research wetland, Juniper Bay, was restored from agricultural soils in 2004. Our proposed P balance will relate changes in TPsoil over an 8 year period to the primary inputs of P to the bay (atmospheric deposition, ground water inflow) and outputs (plant uptake, surface and ground water outflow). The development of a P-balance of Juniper Bay will aid in selecting restoration sites that will have minimal impact on water quality.