Element Transport in a River-Lake Continuum Across Forest- Dominated Landscapes: a Case Study in Central Louisiana
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School March 2020 Element Transport in A River-lake Continuum across Forest- dominated Landscapes: A Case Study in Central Louisiana Zhen Xu Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Geochemistry Commons, and the Hydrology Commons Recommended Citation Xu, Zhen, "Element Transport in A River-lake Continuum across Forest-dominated Landscapes: A Case Study in Central Louisiana" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5181. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5181 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. ELEMENT TRANSPORT IN A RIVER-LAKE CONTINUUM ACROSS FOREST-DOMINATED LANDSCAPES: A CASE STUDY IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The School of Renewable Natural Resources by Zhen Xu B.S., College of Idaho, 2012 M.S., Louisiana State University, 2014 May 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone who helped and supported me on this lifetime achievement. First and foremost, thank you to my major advisor, Dr. Yi-Jun Xu, whose training set the foundation for this achievement. You let me swim upriver on my own, yet were always willing to pull me out of unhappy waters when I floundered. Your guidance, enthusiasm, and encouragement have made me a better person and scholar. Thank you to my committee, Dr. Bin Li, Dr. John Andrew Nyman, Dr. Jim Jian Wang and Dr. John A. Pojman, for your constant support and constructive feedback. Dr. Li, thank you for the statistical advice, guidance and patience as I struggled with my studies. Dr. Wang and Dr. Nyman, thank you for all of the thought-provoking conversations and always having a friendly smile for me, even on the roughest of days. Dr. Pojman, it has been my honor to have you as the Dean’s representative, and your expertise has been a wonderful complement to the committee. I could not have made it to this point without you. I am very grateful for the invaluable support of my colleagues undertaking the graduate school process with me, and for the numerous friendships which have helped keep me sane. Thanks to my colleagues Songjie He, Kaci Fisher, Sanjeev Joshi and Emily DelDuco for your assistance and company in locations ranging from the field to the Chimes on Highland Road, to Shuwei Zheng for deciphering the ArcGIS puzzles that left me bewildered, and to all other lab members and friends that made my stay at LSU enjoyable. A very special thanks also goes to all the people who helped me when I was severely injured as a victim of a drunk-driving accident. I am extremely grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from health care professionals at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and various therapy centers, from people in the School of Renewable Natural Resources ii and across the LSU campus, from brothers and sisters at the Local Churches and South Baton Rouge Church of Christ, from my friends and many other anonymous people. Your encouragement and support have helped me go through this life changing event, and I appreciate you more than I can put into words. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the funding support of the School of Renewable Natural Resources, especially the support provided by Dr. Allen Rutherford for the McIntire- Stennis Research Assistantship. Appreciations also go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for their funding support. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their love, support and patience throughout this process. My hard-working parents, Dehuan Meng and Quanrong Xu, have sacrificed their lives for me and provided unconditional love and care. My wife, Pengfei Pan, has been a true and great supporter. I truly thank her for sticking by my side through thick and thin. I know I always have my family to count on when times are rough. I love them so much, and I would not have made it this far without them. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES ........................................................... 6 1.3. STUDY AREA AND RESEARCH APPROACH .............................................................. 7 1.4. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS .............................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 2. ASSESSING EFFECTIVENESS OF LONG-TERM FORESTRY BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON STREAM WATER QUALITY AT A BASIN SCALE - A CASE STUDY IN SOUTHERN USA ......................................................................................... 11 2.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 11 2.2. METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 14 2.3. RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 22 2.4. DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................................. 35 2.5. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 3. DISSOLVED CARBON TRANSPORT IN A RIVER-LAKE CONTINUUM: A CASE STUDY IN A SUBTROPICAL WATERSHED, USA ..................................................... 45 3.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 45 3.2. METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 47 3.3. RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 56 3.4. DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................................. 66 3.5. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 4. METAL TRANSPORT IN A LOW-GRADIENT RIVER-LAKE CONTINUUM IN SUBTROPICAL LOUISIANA, USA ..................................................................................... 74 4.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 74 4.2. METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 76 4.3. RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 82 4.4. DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................................. 88 4.5. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 92 CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................................... 94 APPENDIX A. PERMISSION TO REPRINT CHAPTER 2 ....................................................... 98 APPENDIX B. PERMISSION TO REPRINT CHAPTER 3 ..................................................... 104 APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR CHAPTER 3 ............................. 105 APPENDIX D. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR CHAPTER 4 ............................. 107 iv LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................... 108 VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 127 v ABSTRACT Studying the biogeochemical connectivity between rivers and lakes can help us understand their ecological and environmental impacts within a drainage basin, which is especially true for forest watersheds that play a vital role in provisioning freshwater services to ecosystems and downstream communities. This dissertation research consists of three interconnected studies with the overarching goal of discerning the connectivity of elements in a river-lake continuum across forest-dominated landscapes. These studies utilized water samples and in situ measurements collected from the Little River-Catahoula Lake continuum in the subtropical Louisiana, USA at monthly intervals during 2015-2016 and 1978-2008 historical water quality,