Interactive Effects of Plant Species and Organic Carbon on Nitrate Removal in Chesapeake Bay Treatment Wetlands

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dc.contributor.advisorTilley, David R.
dc.contributor.authorAgarwal, Arsh
dc.contributor.authorBradford, Allie
dc.contributor.authorCheng, Kerry
dc.contributor.authorDewan, Ramita
dc.contributor.authorDisla, Enrique
dc.contributor.authorGoodley, Addison
dc.contributor.authorLim, Nathan
dc.contributor.authorLiu, Lisa
dc.contributor.authorPlace, Lucas
dc.contributor.authorRamadorai, Raevathi
dc.contributor.authorShankar, Jaishri
dc.contributor.authorWellen, Michael
dc.contributor.authorYe, Diane
dc.contributor.authorYu, Edward
dc.date.accessioned2013-05-01T19:00:22Z
dc.date.available2013-05-01T19:00:22Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractNitrate from agricultural runoff are a significant cause of algal blooms in estuarine ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay. These blooms block sunlight vital to submerged aquatic vegetation, leading to hypoxic areas. Natural and constructed wetlands have been shown to reduce the amount of nitrate flowing into adjacent bodies of water. We tested three wetland plant species native to Maryland, Typha latifolia (cattail), Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), and Schoenoplectus validus (soft-stem bulrush), in wetland microcosms to determine the effect of species combination and organic amendment on nitrate removal. In the first phase of our study, we found that microcosms containing sawdust exhibited significantly greater nitrate removal than microcosms amended with glucose or hay at a low nitrate loading rate. In the second phase of our study, we confirmed that combining these plants removed nitrate, although no one combination was significantly better. Furthermore, the above-ground biomass of microcosms containing switchgrass had a significantly greater percentage of carbon than microcosms without switchgrass, which can be studied for potential biofuel use. Based on our data, future environmental groups can make a more informed decision when choosing biofuel-capable plant species for artificial wetlands native to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/13888
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
dc.relation.isAvailableAtGemstone Program, University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
dc.subjectGemstone Team SWAMPen_US
dc.subjectplantsen_US
dc.subjectChesapeake Bayen_US
dc.subjectwetlandsen_US
dc.subjectnitrateen_US
dc.subjectorganic carbonen_US
dc.titleInteractive Effects of Plant Species and Organic Carbon on Nitrate Removal in Chesapeake Bay Treatment Wetlandsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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