Progress report for GNC20-315
Project Information
Wetland creation and restoration are an integral part of overall nutrient management strategies for watersheds with intensive row-crop agriculture, because wetlands are effective sinks for nutrients. Many of the same environmental conditions that support the capacity of wetlands to capture nutrients also stimulate release of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), which are potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) that drive climate change. Climate change threatens the natural resource base on which agriculture depends. To balance the looming threat of climate change and the need to protect sensitive downstream ecosystems from pollution, we need to design and manage wetlands to reduce CH4 and N2O emissions while maintaining water quality benefits. My project, “Design and Management of On-Farm Wetlands for Water Quality and Climate Regulation,” will address this demand through research and outreach efforts.
Two main factors of wetland design and management are vegetation and hydrology. Variability in water quality and climate regulation functions have been previously linked to vegetation and water table management (WTM), but there is considerable uncertainty about the mechanisms that drive these differences. This research will address these uncertainties by isolating the effects using experimental mesocosms and novel integration of biogeochemical methods. The effects of plant species and hydrology will be assessed by measuring CH4, CO2, and N2O fluxes and nutrient retention in mesocosms. The mechanisms that explain differences across treatments will be identified by measuring plant, soil, and hydrologic characteristics and performing multivariate analyses to identify characteristics that predict wetland response. A major outcome from this research will be the development of actionable guidelines for plant selection and WTM of wetlands that effectively treat agricultural drainage while reducing GHG emissions.
Project outcomes related to outreach include increasing actionable knowledge about how wetland plant species and WTM can be leveraged to maximize water quality and climate regulation benefit, addressing farmers’ concerns about profitability and cost of wetlands, and increasing knowledge of K-12 students of the role of wetlands in sustainable agriculture. These objectives will achieved through a combination of Extension and journal publications, a field day, and educational videos. The effectiveness of these outreach efforts will be evaluated based on number of attendees and course evaluations from the field day, number of K-12 students reached, number of publications, and level of social media engagement for virtual products. The achievement of research and outreach outcomes will support farmers in meeting nutrient reduction goals while limiting contributions to climate change.
The primary learning outcome is to increase the actionable knowledge of farmers and wetland practitioners about how wetland plant species and water table management can be leveraged to maximize water quality and climate regulation benefits. These wetland practitioners may be employed by the NRCS, environmental consulting firms, and non-profit agencies that invest in wetland restoration, such as Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy. NRCS engineers and other wetland practitioners are the primary interface between county agencies, farmers, and non-profits who might be proponents of wetland adoption. A secondary learning outcome is to address farmers’ concerns about profitability and costs of on-farm wetlands. Another learning outcome is to increase knowledge and awareness of K-12 students of the role of wetlands in sustainable agriculture.
If the learning outcomes are effectively met, I anticipate the following actions: wetland practitioners will incorporate this guidance into future wetland designs to make planned wetlands more sustainable, farmers will adapt management of existing wetlands (e.g. installing water control structures or removing certain plant species) based on management guidance to make wetlands more sustainable, more farmers in the North Central region will implement wetlands for nutrient reduction, and more K-12 students will consider pursuing careers in sustainable agriculture. Although these action outcomes are anticipated, tracking these changes in behavior is beyond the proposed scope of the project.
Research
Due to COVID-19 and personnel changes, progress on this project was considerably delayed. We began collecting data in the fall and will resume data collection during the growing season.
Mesocosms were placed outdoors into gravel-lined holes at Purdue Wildlife Area (Figure 1). Placing mesocosms in the ground insulates them to permit continuation of the experiment over the winters. These mesocosms are located just outside of a new laboratory facility that was built at Purdue Wildlife Area. This well for this facility is the source water for the experiment.
Soil from the depressional wetland at Purdue Wildlife Area was placed in the mesocosms in the fall (Figure 2). We are keeping water levels in the mesocosms at a fixed depth outside of the growing season. This depth is representative of hydrologic zones where the plants that we are investigating tend to thrive. This water depth will be maintained during the growing season. Mesocosms will be planted with one of three vegetation types or no vegetation (control) in Spring 2023. Intensive monitoring of gas exchange and water chemistry is planned for the late spring and summer.
To provide a baseline for the effect of plant type, we characterized denitrification enzyme activity of these wetland soils before placement into the mesocosms in the fall. We also measured loss on ignition soil organic matter content. We performed a cold-water extraction to characterize quantity and fluorescence characteristics of soil organic carbon compound and a potassium chloride (KCl) extraction to estimate exchangeable soil nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations. We also collected and analyzed well water samples to characterize our source water.
As data collection was delayed and analytical instruments were only recently fixed, we have no results to share at this time.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
I introduced K-12 students throughout the United States and Canada to water quality challenges related to agriculture and conservation practices that reduce the water quality impacts of agriculture, particularly on-farm wetlands, through volunteering with Skype-A-Scientist, Pathful Connect (previously Nepris), and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant's Students Ask Scientists program. The details of these virtual presentations are presented below:
- Discussed careers in ecological engineering and presented my plans for investigating on-farm wetlands with an AP Physics class at Parkland High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (October 15, 2020) [presentation]
- Discussed water quality benefits from agricultural wetlands and tradeoffs in agricultural wetlands, specifically greenhouse gas production and losses of legacy phosphorus, and outlined my upcoming research on on-farm wetlands with the IB Environmental Systems and Societies class at Parkland High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (October 28, 2020) [presentation]
- Presented strategies for nutrient reduction in agricultural watersheds, including on-farm wetlands, to 7 classes at Indian River High School in Philadelphia, New York through Students Ask Scientists. I also consulted with this class on their research project that investigated why excess nutrients were present in a local reservoir (2 classes on April 22, 2021; 3 classes on April 23, 2021, and 2 classes on April 27, 2021) [7 presentations]
- Hosted a hands-on Earth Day activity virtually for kindergarteners and 1st graders for a chapter of Girl Guides of Canada in Vancouver, Canada through Skype-A-Scientist. This activity taught the girls about forms of pollution that come up from agriculture, industry, and urban areas (May 13, 2021) [presentation]
- Worked with 7th and 8th grade students on their design projects (The Science of Sustainability in Building an Earth Friendly Theme Park) and discussed my research into sustainability, including on-farm wetlands, through Skype-A-Scientist (May 27, 2021) [presentation]
- Virtually visited a 5th grade class in Edmonton, Alberta who just finished studying wetlands and discussed wetlands and other conservation practices in urban and agricultural settings (June 23, 2021) [presentation]
- Presented information on use and investigations of wetlands to treat pollution with an undergraduate researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in a one-on-one session through Skype-A-Scientist (December 1, 2021) [presented]
- Served as a technical expert to answer questions about more than 90 9th grade students' projects related to sustainable agriculture in the Nepris session Global STEM Challenges Program: Food Production/Waste Reduction. I also gave a presentation on different nutrient loss reduction strategies in agriculture from in-field practices, such to precision fertilizer application and cover cropping, to edge-of-field practices, such as riparian buffers and on-farm wetlands, to downstream practices, such as riverine floodplain restoration (February 4, 2022) [presentation]
- Virtually visited a 7th grade class at Sashabaw Middle School for their career day via Nepris. I discussed career opportunities in conservation and conservation practices in agricultural settings (March 23rd, 2022) [presentation]
- Shared information on how plants and soils treat pollutants with hands-on activities at Purdue University's 2022 Spring Fest. Spring Fest is an annual festival for local students and their families. I also presented a poster on wetlands (What are wetlands?) to hundreds of visitors. [other educational activities]
Hundreds of children and their families learned how plants and soils treat and trap pollution in wetlands at 2022 Spring Fest at Purdue University. - Worked with the School of Agricultural and Biological Engineering to host three Career Day sessions during 4-H Round-Up. We led middle school students through a hands-on activity of testing water samples and discussed agricultural conservation practices, including wetlands (June 27, 2022) [other educational activities]
- Led a design challenge for INSPIRE engineering summer camp students (ages 9-11) where students were tasked with developing a filter prototype for treatment wetlands (July 14th, 2022) [workshop]
INSPIRE summer camp students learn about water quality and treatment wetlands before designing a filter prototype - Presented information about the water quality benefits of restorations during the Indiana Wetlands Educational Outreach Workshop, which was hosted by the Silver Jackets. The Silver Jackets are a partnership of federal, state, and local organizations who focus on mitigation of flooding and other natural hazards (July 18th, 2022) [workshop]
Silver Jacket workshop attendees learn about wetland functions and restorations - Led a design challenge for the Algebra before 7th Grade program where students were tasked with developing a filter prototype for treatment wetlands (October 29th, 2022) [workshop]
- Used wetland mesocosm studies as an example to teach experimental design in a sophomore-level course in agricultural and biological engineering (ABE 205: Computations for Engineering Systems). I presented the class with the research problem that this proposal addresses and asked them to design an experiment to determine the effect of plant type on wetland function (Fall 2023) [other educational activities]
- Used the mesocosm design for this project to teach about randomization and controlling extraneous variables during experiments in a sophomore-level course in agricultural and biological engineering (ABE 205: Computations for Engineering Systems) (Fall 2023) [other educational activities]
- Led a student team in analyzing and presenting data from a meta-analysis of water quality treatment in agricultural wetlands for their course project in ABE 205, Computations for Engineering Systems. This team presented their findings as a poster in the ABE Sophomore Showcase (Fall 2023) [other educational activities]
- Created and distributed a lesson plan for 4-H educators in Indiana on how wetlands work as sponges in the landscape to store water and trap/treat pollutants in the landscape. This lesson plan included additional activities to learn more about experimental design and a modification to use the activity with Enviroscape Ecosystem Restoration kits (February 2023) [education tool]
This project has also been featured in two press releases. The Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University released a press release that discussed this work and associated research under a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant: Hosen to Study Wetland Usage for Nutrition Retention, Greenhouse Gas Minimization. Agriculture News from the College of Agriculture at Purdue University released an article on recipients at Purdue of NC-SARE funding, which included my project: SARE grants to support Purdue's sustainable agriculture programs.
Project Outcomes
We anticipate that this project will yield recommendations for planting vegetation in on-farm wetlands that balances water quality enhancement with greenhouse gas emissions.