PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #74: Agroecology.
Friday, August 9. Presentation from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC
150
Effect of landscape properties on water quality in an agricultural watershed of north-central Ohio.
Goebel, Charles*,1, Vadrevu, Krishna1, Hudgins, Deanna1, McCartney, David1, Moore, Richard1, Stinner, Ben1, 1 Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH
ABSTRACT- The Upper Midwest comprises one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, and many of the agroecosystems receive extensive nutrient inputs. Unfortunately, many of these agroecosystems do not effectively utilize or retain all of these added nutrients, leading to growing problems with non-point sources of pollution moving into surface and ground waters. This is particularly true in the headwaters of the Sugar Creek watershed of north-central Ohio, where over 80% of the watershed area is in agricultural production (e.g., dairy and grain crops) and there are significant problems associated with sediment and nutrient loading. In order to help identify target areas and prioritize restoration efforts in the headwaters of the Sugar Creek, we used remote sensing, GIS and an extensive network of water quality monitoring sites to help develop regression models of chemical export as functions of landscape composition. Our preliminary results suggest that a variety of agricultural practices and other physical watershed characteristics (e.g., percent slope, soil type) account for a majority of the total variance in observed stream nutrient loadings, especially nitrate-N, ammonium-N and phosphorus. This suggests that significant improvements in water quality may be possible with modifications to management practices in environmentally-sensitive areas (e.g., implementation of best management practices such as nutrient management plans and restored riparian buffers). Additionally, our integrated GIS approach will help target remediation efforts to these sensitive areas.
KEY WORDS: water quality, nitrogen, phosphorus, GIS