Phytoplankton Nutrient Limitation in Urban Stormwater

and International Students

A Predictive Validity Comparison Between Domestic
Non-Cognitive Predictors of Student Success:
Ponds of South Florida
Veg1 PRESENTER: Audrey Goeckner, AJ Reisinger, Ashley Smyth, Michelle Atkinson
Audrey Goeckner Trad 1
@PondGator
agoeckner@ufl.edu
BACKGROUND RESULTS
Urban Stormwater ponds (SWPs) built for flood management
Urban ponds are synergistically N & P Co-limited,
Phytoplankton biomass & limitation status (Fig.1)
can support algal blooms due to runoff nutrient loading.
suggesting dual nutrient management is best to prevent Chl-a (μg/L) by Pond & Treatment Mean ± Std. error
Questions:
undesired algal masses.
3- - - 3- + + 3-
Control PO4 NO3 NO3 + PO4 NH4 NH4 + PO4
Veg1 1.7 ± 0.2 3.5 ± 0.5 2.9 6.7 ± 0.8 ' 2.8 ± 0.4 ' 13.5 ± 2.2***
Does implemented littoral vegetation effect algal resource •
•
dd
Re

Veg2 1.1 ± 0.2 1.3 ± 0.4 1.2 ± 0.5 1.7 ± 0.2 0.95 ± 0.2 2.5 ± 0.4
limitation & nutrient pathways? Fig.1 Trad1 4.7 ± 0.7 3.2 ± 0.4 4.0 ± 0.3 6.7 ± 0.9 4.2 ± 0.8 13.6 ± 0.8***
Trad2 1.7 ± 0.4 3.4 ± 0.3 ' 1.1 ± 0.2 3.6 ± 0.6 * 1.1 ± 0.3 4.7 ± 0.5***
What resources are a concern to SWP algal blooms and ANOVA & Tukey p-values for sig. difference to control: ***= 0, **=0.001, *=0.05, ‘=0.1
downstream water quality?
• Ponds are N+P co-limited except P-limited Trad2
Objective: • Only NH4+ + PO43- was sig. different than the control except
Use nutrient limitation bioassays (NLBs) to characterize algal Veg2. Few other exceptions.
growth limitation, nutrient uptake, & water column N2 cycling in • NH4+ + PO43- Increased trophic status from oligotrophic (<8ug
traditional (turfgrass only) & vegetated SWPs L-1) to mesotrophic (8-25ug L-1) in Veg1, Trad1, Trad2.
% and mass nutrient removal from
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN & METHODS
% Nutrient uptake (Fig.2) treatments they were added to
NLBs done in 4 SWPs of Bradenton, FL (March 2021): Two with (mean±SE for all ponds)
NO3- Removal
littoral vegetation (Veg1, Veg2) & two without (Trad1, Trad2)
Bioassay design
The water column can remove a majority of NO3 - and • NO3+ and NH4+ uptake
enhanced by P addition
NO3- NO3- + PO43-
0.81 ± 0.01 mg/L 0.91 ± 0.03 mg/L
24 1-L cubitainers filled per pond 1ppm
NO3-
1ppm
NH4+
2ppm
PO43- PO4 prior to downstream export, but less NH4 , which
3- + • P-uptake
Non-Cognitive Predictorssimilar among
of Student Success: all P 78.7 ± 1.1 %
A Predictive Validity Comparison Between Domestic and International Students
treatments and ponds
88.9 ± 2.8 %
NH4+ Removal
6 nutrient treatments, shown right
stimulates the greatest N+P algal growth NH4+ + 3-
NH4 + PO4
(n=4 per treatment) • Large quantity of P & NO3 -
0.39 ± 0.04 mg/L 0.67 ± 0.07 mg/L
Incubation time: 3.5 days NO3- NH4+ removed after 3.5 days 33.5 ± 4.2 % 57.0 ± 6.7 %
+ + Control 3-
• Less NH4 removed + PO 4 Removal (all P-treatments)
PO43- PO43-
1.41 ± 0.01 mg/L

Cubitainers then analyzed for: 70.5 ± 0.6 %

- Chlorophyll-a Net N2 denitrification or fixation (Fig.3)

- Nutrients • N+P treatments created low N:P favoring N2-fix especially in
- N2 gas from incubations day-time hours (light vial)
Phytoplankton biomass (Fig.1) • Night-time activity (dark vials) can be a pathway for N
Chl-a used to calculate algal growth response ratios (RR). removal and day-time N limitation
Nutrient limitation quantified using ln(RR) of nutrient CONCLUSIONS
treatments relative to the control: Fig.2
𝐶ℎ𝑙𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

Nutrient removal (Fig.2)

𝑙𝑛 (
𝐶ℎ𝑙𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙
)
After nutrient uptake occurs, low N:P ratios associated • No apparent differences b/w vegetation vs. no vegetation
• littoral veg may compete more for sediment nutrients.
% available NO3-, NH4+, and PO43- taken up during incubation with P or N+P treatments select for N-fixation activity • Future comparison: ponds with floating and submerged
vegetation, reported competitors for dissolved N & P
quantified as:

Denitrification
𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐. −𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐.
∗ 100 Less NH4+ was req’d (taken up) to stimulate similar single-
𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
treatment growths and the highest N+P growth. This excess
Net N2 denitrification or fixation (Fig.3) NH4+ can be considered concerning for causing pond blooms
• ΔN2 gas b/w an incubated light (grow lamp) and leaving excess to be received by downstream ecosystems
or dark (foil-wrap) vial and a time zero Stay tuned for…

N-fixation
• N2 gas measured by membrane inlet • Net N2 rate incubations on freshly enriched pond water
mass spectrometer. • 16S amplicon sequencing to compare community composition
𝑵𝒆𝒕 𝑵𝟐 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆(𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝑳−𝟏 𝒉−𝟏 ) = 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑁2 − 𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑁2 ÷ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 Fig.3 of N-cycling microbes between treatments