A simulation model for nitrogen retention in a papyrus wetland near Lake Victoria,Uganda (East Africa) |
| |
Authors: | A A van Dam A Dardona P Kelderman F Kansiime |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Environmental Resources, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P.O.Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands;(2) Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Kampala, Uganda |
| |
Abstract: | Papyrus wetlands around Lake Victoria, East Africa play an important role in the nutrient flows from the catchment to the
lake. A dynamic model for nitrogen cycling was constructed to understand the processes contributing to nitrogen retention
in the wetland and to evaluate the effects of papyrus harvesting on the nitrogen absorption capacity of the wetlands. The
model had four layers: papyrus mat, water, sludge and sediment. Papyrus growth was modelled as the difference between nitrogen
uptake and loss. Nitrogen uptake was modelled with a logistic equation combined with a Monod-type nitrogen limitation. Nitrogen
compartments were papyrus plants, organic material in the floating mat; and total ammonia, nitrate and organic nitrogen in
the water, sludge and sediment. Apart from the uptake and decay rates of the papyrus, the model included sloughing and settling
of mat material into the water, mineralization of organic matter, and nitrification and diffusion of dissolved inorganic nitrogen.
Literature data and field measurements were used for parameterization. The model was calibrated with data from Kirinya wetland
in Jinja, Uganda which receives effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The model simulated realistic concentrations
of dissolved nitrogen with a stable biomass density of papyrus and predicted accumulation of organic sludge in the wetland.
Assuming that this sludge is not washed out of the wetland, the overall nitrogen retention of the wetland over a three-year
period was 21.5 g N m−2 year−1 or about 25% of input. Harvesting 10, 20 and 30% of the papyrus biomass per year increased nitrogen retention capacity of
the wetland to 32.3, 36.8 and 38.1 g m−2 year−1, respectively. Although the nutrient flows estimated by the model are within the ranges found in other papyrus wetlands,
the model could be improved with regard to the dynamics of detrital nitrogen. Actual net retention of nitrogen in the sludge
is likely to be lower than 21.5 g N m−2 year−1 because of flushing out of the sludge to the lake during the rainy season. |
| |
Keywords: | Nitrogen Lake Victoria Wetlands Modelling Nitrogen retention Buffering capacity |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|