Abstract Title
Waves of Phosphorus: Resuspension and Release by Recreational Boating
Additional Funding Sources
This project was made possible by the NSF Idaho EPSCoR Program and by the National Science Foundation under Award No. OIA-1301792. The project described was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant No. P20GM103408.
Abstract
Eutrophication, excessive growth from an overabundance of nutrients, is a pressing threat to surface waters worldwide. While significant efforts have been implemented to understand and limit phosphorus (P) loading, the release of sediment P due to boating disruption, a direct human impact, is poorly understood. Coeur d’Alene Lake, a popular recreation site, is ideal for studying release from recreational boating with many shallow bays including Kidd Island Bay. I analyzed P and turbidity from water samples collected along a transect perpendicular to shore at set times after the passing of watercraft to relate the number, size, and speed to turbidity and P resuspension. Here, as noted in elsewhere by other researchers, turbidity and P concentrations are related to boating and weather factors. This project contributes data necessary to fully understand the internal P dynamics of the lake ecosystem in the face of increasing recreational pressures caused by rising human population and affluence.
Waves of Phosphorus: Resuspension and Release by Recreational Boating
Eutrophication, excessive growth from an overabundance of nutrients, is a pressing threat to surface waters worldwide. While significant efforts have been implemented to understand and limit phosphorus (P) loading, the release of sediment P due to boating disruption, a direct human impact, is poorly understood. Coeur d’Alene Lake, a popular recreation site, is ideal for studying release from recreational boating with many shallow bays including Kidd Island Bay. I analyzed P and turbidity from water samples collected along a transect perpendicular to shore at set times after the passing of watercraft to relate the number, size, and speed to turbidity and P resuspension. Here, as noted in elsewhere by other researchers, turbidity and P concentrations are related to boating and weather factors. This project contributes data necessary to fully understand the internal P dynamics of the lake ecosystem in the face of increasing recreational pressures caused by rising human population and affluence.
Comments
W54