TY - JOUR

T1 - Use of cotton gin trash to enhance denitrification next term in restored forested wetlands.

AU - Ullah, Sami

AU - Faulkner, Stephen P.

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Forest Ecology and Management 237 (1-3), 2006, © ELSEVIER.

PY - 2006/12/15

Y1 - 2006/12/15

N2 - Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) has lost about 80% bottomland hardwood forests, mainly to agriculture. This landscape scale alteration of the LMV resulted in the loss of nitrate (NO3) removal capacity of the valley, contributing to nitrogen (N)-enhanced eutrophication and potentially hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Restoration of hardwood forests in the LMV is a highly recommended practice to reduce NO3 load of the Mississippi River. However, restored bottomland forests take decades to develop characteristic ecological functions including denitrifier activity. One way to enhance denitrifier activity in restored wetland forests is to amend the soils with an available carbon (C) source. This research investigated the effects of cotton gin trash (CGT) amendment on denitrification rate and N2O:N2 emission ratio from a restored bottomland forest soils and compared it to those from an adjacent unamended natural forest soils. CGT amendment increased denitrification rates in the restored forest soils to the level of the natural forest soils. N2O:N2 emission ratios from the restored and natural forest soils were highly variable and were not significantly different from each other. These findings suggest that restoration of bottomland hardwood forests in the LMV will require organic carbon amendment to achieve enhanced denitrifier activity for NO3 removal while the restored forest is developing into a mature state over time.

AB - Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) has lost about 80% bottomland hardwood forests, mainly to agriculture. This landscape scale alteration of the LMV resulted in the loss of nitrate (NO3) removal capacity of the valley, contributing to nitrogen (N)-enhanced eutrophication and potentially hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Restoration of hardwood forests in the LMV is a highly recommended practice to reduce NO3 load of the Mississippi River. However, restored bottomland forests take decades to develop characteristic ecological functions including denitrifier activity. One way to enhance denitrifier activity in restored wetland forests is to amend the soils with an available carbon (C) source. This research investigated the effects of cotton gin trash (CGT) amendment on denitrification rate and N2O:N2 emission ratio from a restored bottomland forest soils and compared it to those from an adjacent unamended natural forest soils. CGT amendment increased denitrification rates in the restored forest soils to the level of the natural forest soils. N2O:N2 emission ratios from the restored and natural forest soils were highly variable and were not significantly different from each other. These findings suggest that restoration of bottomland hardwood forests in the LMV will require organic carbon amendment to achieve enhanced denitrifier activity for NO3 removal while the restored forest is developing into a mature state over time.

KW - Bottomland hardwood forests

KW - Cotton gin trash

KW - Denitrification

KW - Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

KW - N2O

KW - N2 emission ratio

KW - Water quality

KW - Wetland restoration

U2 - 10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.075

DO - 10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.075

M3 - Journal article

VL - 237

SP - 557

EP - 563

JO - Forest Ecology and Management

JF - Forest Ecology and Management

SN - 0378-1127

IS - 1-3

ER -