Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research
Project Number: 6060-13660-009-011-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 15, 2020
End Date: May 14, 2024
Objective:
Freshwater resources are increasingly threatened by so called harmful algal blooms (HABs) which may directly impact agriculture by reducing surface water availability for agricultural water needs. The objective of this agreement is to understand and measure the role of varying ratios of limiting nutrients on dinitrogen gas fluxes (a key nitrogen cycling mechanism) and HAB development. Initial experiments and field measurements conducted under this agreement will help identify linkages between limiting nutrients and HABs which can be used by resource managers to better predict and design best management practices that limit probability of HAB events in agricultural water bodies.
Approach:
Cooperators and ARS scientists will conduct nutrient enrichment studies in controlled, experimental pond mesocosm systems to facilitate ARS efforts in understanding factors that drive HAB development. Additionally cooperators will work with ARS scientists to conduct one field study to quantify temporal patterns in limiting nutrients, temperature, and HAB development in an agricultural water body located in the Lower Mississippi River Basin/Delta region.
