| NSF Org: |
DEB Division Of Environmental Biology |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 1, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 1, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1822960 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Matthew Kane
mkane@nsf.gov (703)292-7186 DEB Division Of Environmental Biology BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | March 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | February 29, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $200,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $200,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1601 VATTIER STREET MANHATTAN KS US 66506-2504 (785)532-6804 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
KS US 66506-1103 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ECOSYSTEM STUDIES |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
The goal of this project is to learn how water inputs from a decommissioned fertilizer plant, which carries a large amount of nitrogen (N) and unique microorganisms, affect riverine water quality. The fertilizer plant waste carries microorganisms that grow well in high-N conditions; thus, the concurrent addition of N and unique microbes could enhance microbiological N removal activity within the river, and will advance understanding of the connections between microbial community composition and riverine nitrogen cycling. This is a significant frontier in ecosystem science with high potential to improve mechanistic understanding of future changes in ecosystem structure and function. To accomplish these goals, the research uses two approaches. First, the relationship between changes in river water quality and changes in river water microbial communities will be measured over time and compared to unaffected sections of the river. Second, in order to directly test whether different microbial populations have different effects on water quality, lab experiments will compare N removal in waters inoculated with microorganisms from either the river or fertilizer waste ponds. This project focuses on a uniquely well-defined release of water with distinct chemistry and microbial composition, which enables clear tracking of the effect of altered N input and microbial community composition on river water quality. This research will teach us whether knowing water microbial community composition helps predict water quality in a large river. This project supports direct engagement between research scientists and their local municipality and watershed organization to learn about controls on water quality. It also gives graduate and undergraduate students hands-on experience collecting, synthesizing and interpreting data on river chemistry and microbiology.
To reach project goals, the researchers will deploy a suite of sensors (nitrate and dissolved oxygen) and automated water samplers, and collect grab samples to characterize downstream changes in river biogeochemistry and microbial community composition. Also, the researchers will filter live microbial cells from river and fertilizer waste water and use these cells to inoculate replicated lab incubation chambers that contain different N concentrations. Response variables measured in both field and lab activities include: water chemistry, nitrification and denitrification rate potentials, total bacterial and archaeal community composition, nitrification and denitrification functional gene abundance. This work offers a unique opportunity to better understand how large rivers transport and transform nutrients in the face of altered nutrient inputs and microbial loads, a key gap in our understanding of lotic nutrient cycling. Also, because nitrification and denitrification rates are limited by different environmental factors, the work will provide insight on biological versus geochemical controls over two key processes supporting total N removal from aquatic ecosystems.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project documented the consequences of an emergency high-nitrogen pollutant release into a large river for downstream microorganisms and water quality. Fertilizer waste water was released into the Kansas River from November 2017 ? March 2018: The waste water had in the range of 100-1000 times more nitrates than river water, and also carried novel bacteria and algae that lived in the fertilizer waste tanks. We measured nitrate concentrations, nitrate uptake and removal rates in the river water above and below the pollutant input and before and after its release, and tracked the total microbial community and nitrate removal ability of the microbial community in the river water versus the fertilizer waste water. We predicted that the pollutant input would increase nitrogen use and uptake by all the organisms in the river, and hypothesized that the novel microbes added to the river might have the ability to thrive in very high-nitrogen water, and could thus enhance the nitrogen removal activity of the river microbiome.
Some unique bacteria were detected in the Kansas River water downstream of the pollutant input, however their abundance decreased downstream, suggesting they did not survive in the very different river environment. No evidence of pathogen inputs was detected. The total microbial community in the river changed more in relation to the changing seasons (Nov-March) than to the pollutant input. Lab experiments showed that the waste water microbiome did have a higher capacity to remove nitrogen at high nitrogen concentrations, providing partial support for our hypothesis; however, at the lower nitrogen concentrations typical of the river water environment, the river water microbes could remove nitrogen from the water faster. Therefore, we were not correct that the novel bacterial input from the waste water would enhance river water nitrogen removal activity, since the dilution of the waste water in the river would have changed nitrogen concentrations enough that the high-nitrogen-loving bacteria did not thrive.
The river water nitrate concentrations did increase below the pollutant input point, however they remained 10-100 times lower that of the fertilizer waste water. Still, the higher nitrate levels in river water did cause higher nitrogen processing rates by the organisms living in the river. Nitrogen uptake in the Kansas River was elevated for at least 31 kilometers (19 miles) downstream, at our furthest sampling point from the pollutant input location. Nitrogen uptake also remained elevated for at least a month after the pollutant release ended. The release ended in March, but we still detected water quality impacts and higher nitrogen processing activity in the river just below the release location on our final data collection time point in April. Nitrogen uptake in the river at the final, post-release, time point, was over ten times higher in the most-impacted area of the river just below the release point than it was 31 kilometers downstream.
Based on our combined estimates of algal activity versus total biological nitrogen uptake in the river, the elevated rates of nitrogen use were not correlated with algal activity during the fertilizer waste water release into the Kansas River. This is most likely due to the winter-season timing of the event, and agrees with our casual observations of no visible algal bloom impacts. With the seemingly low impact on algal activity, and relatively cold water temperatures, it was somewhat surprising that the river nitrogen uptake rates were so elevated. All together, the results of our study suggest that the resident bacteria in the Kansas River during November 2016 ? March 2017 were likely responsible for the elevated nitrogen processing due to the emergency fertilizer waste release, and that while the impacts of this pollutant input on the ecosystem were somewhat mitigated, and less detrimental than feared, there was an impact on water quality for at least 19 miles downstream during the release, and for at least a month after the release ended in the locally-impacted river reach.
Last Modified: 07/30/2020
Modified by: Lydia H Zeglin
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