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Junior Colloquium: Team SWAMP

Junior Colloquium: Team SWAMP. Mentor : Dr. Dave Tilley Librarian : Mr. Robert Kackley

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Junior Colloquium: Team SWAMP

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  1. Junior Colloquium: Team SWAMP Mentor: Dr. Dave Tilley Librarian: Mr. Robert Kackley Members: ArshAgarwal, Allie Bradford, Kerry Cheng, RamitaDewan, Enrique Disla, Addison Goodley, Nathan Lim, Lisa Liu, Lucas Place, RaevaRamadorai, Jaishri Shankar, Michael Wellen, Diane Ye, Edward Yu

  2. Research Problem • Agricultural runoff, especially in the spring, leads to high nitrate levels in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed • Causes harmful algal blooms • Result: Dead zones characterized by depletion of oxygen and nutrients vital to aquatic wildlife • Dead zone: low oxygen area of water

  3. Research Problem – Significance of Project Affects fishing industry, seafood consumers, environmental groups, residents of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Health of the Chesapeake Bay is vital for maintaining biodiversity

  4. Purpose & Thesis & Hypothesis Purpose: To design a wetland that optimally removes nitrates from the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding waters Thesis: We want to investigate what combination of native plant species and organic amendments best remove nitrates from the Chesapeake Bay Hypothesis: We expect significant differences between the varying microcosms and empty controls

  5. Literature Review – Agricultural Runoff and River Selection • One of the largest sources of pollution into the Chesapeake Bay (Glibert et al., 2001) • Eutrophication causes harmful algal blooms • Constructed wetlands • Can remove up to 80% of inflowing nitrates (Crumpton & Baker, 1993) • Big Picture: Chesapeake Bay • Choptank River-largest eastern tributary in the bay (Staver, L., Staver, K., & Stevenson, J., 1996) • Tuckahoe Creek-34% of Choptank, accessibility (USDA Agricultural Research Service [ARS], 2009)

  6. Collection of Samples

  7. Literature Review – Plant Selection • Criteria for plant selection • Non-invasive • Native to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed • Biofuel-capable • Cattail (Typhalatifolia) (Fraser, Carty, & Steer, 2004; Matheson, 2010) • Soft-stem Bulrush (Schoenoplectusvalidus) (Rogers, Breen, & Chick, 1991) • Switchgrass (Panicumvirgatum) (Larson, n.d.)

  8. Literature Review – Biofuels & Organic Amendments • Why biofuels? • To accommodate changing energy and environmental needs • Secondary data analysis • Cross-referenced list of Chesapeake Bay native, non-invasive plants with list of biofuel-capable plants (Fedler, Hammond, Chennupati & Ranjan, 2007; Wright & Turhollow, 2010; Zhang, Shahbazi, Wang, Diallo, & Whitmore, 2010) • Why organic amendments? • Increase differences in nitrate removal • Three carbon-based amendments • Glucose (Weisner, Eriksson, Graneli, & Leonardson, 1994) • Sawdust (Hien, 2010) • Wheat straw (Ines, Soares, & Abeliovich, 1998)

  9. Project Outline • Phase 1 • Goal: Find the most effective organic amendment • Use only cattail • Phase 2 • Goal: Find the most effective combination of plants with the amendment • Use cattail, soft-stem bulrush, and switchgrass • Phase 3 • Goal: Implement a large-scale design of the most effective plant combination • Time and money permitting

  10. Pilot Microcosm Design • 1:1 mixture of topsoil and sand • Plastic tubes inserted into ½ holes • Tubes pinched with clothespins • Cattails planted six inches apart from one another • Problems encountered

  11. New Microcosm Design • Spigot system installed as shown • Two inches of gravel, covered by polyethylene fabric. • 5 inches 1:1 topsoil/sand mixture • Plants: clumps of four • Water depth: 5 inches • Weighed microcosms • ½ Liter of topsoil from Tuckahoe for inoculation

  12. New Microcosm Design

  13. An Improved Procedure • 8 week adjustment period • After adjustment period, add nitrates and organic amendments via a concentrated solution • Water samples from individual tubs

  14. Plant Groups • We are using 8 groups: • No plants, no amendments • No plants with Glucose • No plants with Sawdust • No plants with Straw • Plants, no amendments • Plants with Glucose • Plants with Sawdust • Plants with Straw

  15. Preliminary Results • Average Nitrate (NO3-) concentration of Tuckahoe River Samples: • Spring: 2.67 mg/L • Fall: 2.65 mg/L • No significant difference between the concentrations across seasons, p > .05

  16. Pilot Data

  17. Data Analysis • SAS 9.2 • Trial Run: One Factor Repeated Measure ANOVA • No significant difference across weeks • Nitrate removal significantly different from 0 (no change in nitrate concentration) • Phase 1: Two Factor ANOVA with One Repeat Measure • Compare different microcosm environments and week of trial

  18. Future Directions • Fall 2011 • Carry out Phase 1 testing • Four 1 week trials • Collect sample data and analyze • Use results of Phase 1 in Phase 2 next semester • Spring 2012 • Plant fresh microcosms and allow them to acclimate to greenhouse • Carry out Phase 2 testing • Six 1 week trials • Collect sample data and analyze • Tie up loose ends • Begin compiling thesis

  19. Future Directions (cont) • Summer/Fall 2012 • Finish data collection and analysis, if necessary • Begin to implement Phase 3 of project, if time and funds allow for it • Finish first draft of thesis • Contact discussants for thesis conference • Spring 2013 • Edit thesis • Thesis conference! • Make final changes to thesis after conference • Citation ceremony and commencement!

  20. Team Composition • Research • Everyone does everything • Writing/Literature • Subgroups • Group deadline: at least 2 weeks before hard deadline • Example: Junior Colloquium presentation was due internally 3 weeks before we had to present it!

  21. Foreseeing Problems • LOTS of unforeseen complications! • How did we account for these issues? • Build our schedules to work around the project • Talk about it! • Revisit the project timeline and make changes CONSTANTLY

  22. Conclusions • Completed tasks: • Thesis Proposal • Pilot microcosm testing • New microcosm design • Phase 1 acclimation • To be completed: • Phase 1 testing • Phase 2 acclimation and testing • Thesis • Conferences

  23. For the Freshmen! • Put the work in early • Find a good mentor! • Form subgroups as needed • Don’t be afraid to talk to your team! • Use your librarian! • Focus on the big picture…

  24. Acknowledgements • Dr. Dave Tilley • Dr. James Wallace and the Gemstone Staff • Ms. Betty Morgavan and the Greenhouse Staff • Mr. Robert Kackley • Dr. Bruce James • Mr. Brandon Winfrey • Home Depot in College Park, MD

  25. References • Anderson, D., & Glibert, P., & Burkholder J. (2002). Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: Nutrient sources, composition, and consequences. Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation, 24(4), 704-726.  • Crumpton, W., & Baker, J. (1993). Integrating wetlands into agricultural drainage systems: Predictions of nitrate loading and loss in wetlands receiving agricultural subsurface drainage. In: Mitchell J (Ed). Constructed wetlands for water quality improvement. St. Joseph, MI: American Society of Agricultural Engineers. 118-26. • Fedler, C., Hammond, R., Chennupati, P., & Ranjan, R. (2007). Biomass energy potential from recycled wastewater. Lubbock: Texas Tech University. • Fraser, L. H., Carty, S. M., & Steer, D. (2004). A test of four plant species to reduce total nitrogen and total phosphorus from soil leachate in subsurface wetland microcosms. Bioresource Technology, 94(2), 185-192.  • Glibert, P., Magnien, R., Lomas, M., Alexander, J., Tan, C., Haramoto, E., et al. (2001). Harmful algal blooms in the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays of Maryland, USA: Comparison of 1997, 1998, and 1999 events. Estuaries and Coasts, 24(6), 875-883. doi: 10.2307/1353178 • Hien, T. (2010). Influence of different substrates in wetland soils on denitrification. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, June 2010, 1-12. doi:10.1007/s11270-010-0498-6 • Ines, M., Soares, M., & Abeliovich, A. (1998). Wheat straw as substrate for water denitrification. Water Research. 32(12), 3790-3794. • Karrh, R., Romano, W., Raves-Golden, R., Tango, P., Garrison, S., Michael, B., Karrh, L. (2007). Maryland tributary strategy Choptank River basin summary report for 1985-2005 Data. Annapolis, MD: Maryland Department of Natural Resources. • Larson, R.A. (n.d.) Nitrate uptake by terrestrial and aquatic plants. Unpublished manuscript, Office of Research Development and Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carbondale, Illinois. • Matheson, F. E., & Sukias, J. P. (2010). Nitrate removal processes in a constructed wetland treating drainage from dairy pasture. Ecological Engineering, 36, 1260-1265. • Rogers, K., Breen, P., & Chick, A. (1991). Nitrogen removal in experimental wetland treatment systems: Evidence for the role of aquatic plants. Research Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation, 63(7), 9. • Staver, L. W., Staver, K. W., & Stevenson, J. C. (1996). Nutrient inputs to the Choptank river estuary: Implications for watershed management. Estuaries, 19(2), 342-358. • United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (2009, June 16). Choptank River, Maryland: An ARS Benchmark Research Watershed. Retrieved from http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=18632. • Weisner, S., Eriksson, P., Granéli, W., & Leonardson, L. (1994). Influence of macrophytes on nitrate removal in wetlands. Ambio, 23(6), 363-366. • Wright, L., & Turhollow, A. (2010). Switchgrass selection as a “model” bioenergy crop: A history of the process. Biomass and Bioenergy, 34(6), 851-868. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2010.01.030 • Zedler, J. B. (2003). Wetlands at your service: reducing impacts of agriculture at the watershed scale. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 1(2), 65-72. • Zhang, B., Shahbazi, A., Wang, L., Diallo, O., & Whitmore, A. (2010). Hot-water pretreatment of cattails for extraction of cellulose. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology, 1-6. doi: 10.1007/s10295-010-0847-x

  26. Conclusions • Completed tasks: • Thesis Proposal • Pilot microcosm testing • New microcosm design • Phase 1 acclimation • To be completed: • Phase 1 testing • Phase 2 acclimation and testing • Thesis • Conferences • Will discover optimum combination of plants to reduce nitrate levels running off into Chesapeake • Questions?

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