Understanding Nutrient Cycling and Sediment Sources in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin

摘要

Human activity has increased the amount of nitrogen flowing into surface waters and estuaries in the northeastern U.S by 10-fold or more (Howarth et al. 2005). In estuaries such as the Chesapeake Bay, such large increases in nitrogen are severely damaging populations of aquatic plants and animals and also increasing harmful and toxic algal blooms. At global and national scales, agriculture is the major source of nitrogen pollution. However, atmospheric deposition is also a major source in many regions, and it contributes 25 to 50 percent of the nitrogen inputs to the Chesapeake Bay.The Susquehanna is the largest U.S. river draining to the Atlantic, the largest tributary of Chesapeake Bay, and the single largest source of nutrients to the main stem of the Bay. Therefore, better understanding of the sources and sinks of nutrients and sediment in the Susquehanna River watershed will support better management of nutrients and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.The Agricultural Ecosystems Program is a multidisciplinary program of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University designed to increase our knowledge of the sources and sinks of nutrients and sediments in the New York portion of the Susquehanna watershed. Such knowledge will benefit not only the Susquehanna River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay, but will be valuable for improving understanding and management of nutrients in many other portions of the U.S. The program is truly multi-disciplinary, with forty participants from seven academic departments of Cornell University as well as Cornell University's Mann Library, and representatives of six other academic or governmental organizations, including the Upper Susquehanna Coalition, a multi-agency group focused on improving water quality in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin.