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Environmental Sciences

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Virginia Commonwealth University

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Phosphorus

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Sources And Fates Of Nutrients In The Tidal, Freshwater James River, William Isenberg Apr 2012

Sources And Fates Of Nutrients In The Tidal, Freshwater James River, William Isenberg

Theses and Dissertations

Tidal freshwater reaches of estuaries may play an important role in mitigating nutrient fluxes from watersheds to the coastal zone due to their location at the interface between riverine and estuarine systems. We developed annual N and P budgets for the tidal, freshwater James River over 4 calendar years (2007-2010) taking into account riverine inputs at the Fall Line, local points sources (including CSO events), ungagued inputs, riverine outputs, and tidal exchange. The tidal freshwater James River experiences high areal loading rates of TN (383 mg/m2/d) and TP (70 mg/m2/d) due to the combined effects of large watershed area and …


Factors Limiting Benthic Algal Abundance In Virginia Streams Of The Coastal Plain, Michael Brandt Jul 2009

Factors Limiting Benthic Algal Abundance In Virginia Streams Of The Coastal Plain, Michael Brandt

Theses and Dissertations

Algae are important components of stream food webs and often used in biomonitoring assessments. Little is known regarding the factors that limit their abundance in streams of the VA Coastal Plain. The surficial geology of the Coastal Plain is predominately sandy deposits which comprise the dominant substrate in streams of this region. In a comparative study of five streams located near the VCU Rice Center, we quantified substrate composition, light availability, and nutrient concentrations to assess their relative importance in determining benthic algal abundance. The proportion of stream area comprised of hard substrates was a significant predictor of variation in …