Nutrient status of Lake Liddel, New South Wales: mass loadings of nitrogen and phosphurus, industrial modification, and trophic state

1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 443 ◽  
Author(s):  
RN Royle ◽  
RJ King

The concentrations of nitratehitrite-N, Kjeldahl-N and total P in point-source additions to and losses from Lake Liddell (32° 22'S,150° 1'E) were measured fortnightly from September 1987 to September 1988. These data were used in conjunction with flow-rate data to construct a nitrogen and phosphorus budget from Lake Liddell. The annual net point-source loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus were 23 400 and 5700 kg, respectively. There was little relationship between changes in lake nutrient concentrations and fortnightly mass loadings. The mean molar N: P ratio for point source mass additions was 13: 1, whereas that within the lake was 33: 1. These features indicate that within-lake processes were the dominant processes in determining lake nutrient concentrations. Retention in the sediments of a greater proportion of the total P pool than of the total-N pool appeared to be one of these processes. The use of Lake Liddell water in power-station operations resulted in substantial increases in nitrate/ nitrite-N and total-P concentrations in waters returned to the lake. The use of Dillon's model to predict mean annual total-P concentrations from mass loadings indicates that Lake Liddell is on the border between mesotrophic and eutrophic states.

1994 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Grubb ◽  
I. M. Turner ◽  
D. F. R. P. Burslem

ABSTRACTThe soil of remnant primary rainforest on granite in Singapore is very acidic (pH mostly 3.5–4.2 at 0–10 cm) and has unusually low total concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, but the mean concentrations of N and P in the living leaves and freshly fallen leaves of the more shade-tolerant species are within the ranges found for other lowland forests on infertile oxisols and ultisols. The concentration of Ca in freshly fallen leaves is very low. The soil under secondary forest (bselukar) on sandstone dominated by Adinandra dumosa (Theaceae) was degraded during use for agriculture. It has the same pH range but even lower values of total N and P. The mean concentrations of N, P, K, Ca and Mg in the living leaves are slightly higher than in leaves of the more shade-tolerant trees of primary forest, but lower than in the leaves of the species which require canopy gaps for establishment or early onward growth. The few species sampled in both primary forest and belukar show no consistent trend in foliar concentrations. The degraded soil has selected species with inherently lower foliar concentrations.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (11) ◽  
pp. 1377 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Y. Chan ◽  
C. Dorahy ◽  
S. Tyler

About 0.3 million t/year of composted garden organics (CGO) including mulches and soil conditioners are produced annually in New South Wales, Australia, although only a small proportion of this material (<4%) is used in agriculture. A lack of information on product characteristics and agronomic performance has limited the development of agricultural markets for CGO products. These CGO products are the coarse and fine fractions separated by screening after composting. This paper presents the results of a survey of CGO mulches and soil conditioners (unblended or blended with a mixture of other organic materials including biosolids, animal manures and paper), which are commercially produced in the metropolitan areas of New South Wales and assesses their agronomic and soil amendment values in terms of chemical and biological properties. It also evaluates the short-term effects of applying increasing rates (0, 25, 50 and 100 t/ha) of selected composted soil conditioners on radish growth in a pot experiment. The mulch products had low nutrient concentrations but had high carbon (C) contents (mean C = 45%) and C/Nitrogen (N) ratios (mean C/N = 72) and are most suitable for use as surface mulch. The unblended soil conditioners were low in nutrients, particularly N (average total N = 1.0%, range 0.9–12%), and had lower and variable C contents. The pot trial results indicated lack of growth response of radish at application rates up to 100 t/ha of unblended soil conditioners from garden organics. The blended soil conditioners were more variable in quality and as confirmed by pot trial results produced highly variable plant responses. The high variability in product quality and performance of the soil conditioners, particularly the blended products might be related to the source and type of blending material as well as the composting conditions used in the manufacturing process. These results highlight the need to improve compost quality and consistency and the need for further research to advance understanding of the benefits using CGO in terms of improving soil quality, crop productivity and net economic returns to growers.


Soil Research ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Jones ◽  
R. Willem Vervoort ◽  
Julie Cattle

Understanding the process by which nutrients and solids enter waterways from pastures in the Great Lakes district, New South Wales, Australia, may assist in maintaining water quality to ensure ongoing environmental and economic sustainability of the region. Rainfall simulations, using a 100-year return storm event, were conducted to determine nutrient and suspended solid concentrations in the runoff of 8 pasture sites in 3 of the catchments in the district. On 5 of the 8 sites, considerable concentrations of N or P were mobilised during the simulated rainfall event, but average nutrient concentrations and total loads across all sites were relatively low and similar to other studies of nutrient runoff from pastures. In addition, low runoff coefficients indicated that runoff is probably not the major pathway for nutrient losses from pasture in this area. Overall, rainfall runoff responses at the sites were similar in the 3 catchments. In contrast, the results suggest that, despite generating more runoff, the sites in the Wang Wauk catchment generated less nutrients in runoff than the sites in the Wallamba and Myall catchments. There was no difference in total suspended solids loads for the sites analysed by catchment. Relationships between soil physical and chemical characteristics and total nutrients loads or cumulative runoff were not strong.


2005 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Ramírez ◽  
C. E. M. Bicudo

The vertical and diurnal variation of nitrogen and phosphorus forms, as well as that of soluble reactive silica (SRS), were studied in four sampling days at Garças reservoir, a shallow tropical one located in the city of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. Except for N-NH4, all other inorganic forms of nitrogen (N-NO2, N-NO3, and total N) demonstrated decreased concentrations toward the bottom of reservoir. Similarly, all showed significant diurnal differences on every sampling day, with increased values during the night due to absence of photosynthetic assimilation during that period. In the sampling days, these forms decreased on the spring sampling day due to the bloom of Microcystis registered during this period of the year. All three forms of phosphorus (SRP, particulate P, and total P) showed significant vertical variation, except on the fall sampling day. On the summer sampling day there was an increase of both total P and particulate P, the latter because it constitutes more than 70% of the total P during all sampling days. Hourly phosphorus variation was significant during all sampling days, except for the summer one. The SRS vertical variation was significant during all sampling days, except for that in the spring. It was also different hourly on sampling days.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 456-459
Author(s):  
Kevin Rourke ◽  
Coralie J Wilson

Objectives: To determine if adolescents perceive community-based exercise as beneficial to their well-being and in what ways. Methods: A New South Wales Police Citizens Youth Club ran a four-week fitness course. The classes involved: 1) sports including basketball and soccer, 2) non-contact boxing drills, and 3) games, both team games such as dodgeball and non-team games such as line tag. Parental consent to offer a survey at the completion of the course was requested during registration. The survey was the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale; it was minimally modified to measure perceived benefit to mental well-being instead of actual benefit. Results: Thirty-one high school adolescents, ages 13–18, completed the survey. As a group, participants reported that they believed their well-being had improved after the course. The mean score for each survey item showed an improvement in every area of mental well-being for this sample of adolescents. Thirty-two per cent of adolescents reported having less energy. Survey scores indicated a statistically significant improvement in perceived well-being ( p<0.0001). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that four weeks of community-based exercise improves perceived mental well-being in adolescent participants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Youze Xu ◽  
Guangyi Fu ◽  
Nan Tang ◽  
Zhonghao He ◽  
Lincheng Jian ◽  
...  

Triarrhena lutarioriparia, a typical and most abundant macrophyte in Dongting lake wetland, was in the state of abandonment following the papermaking industry revocation in the lake basin. In order to provide scientific basis for precise management of T. lutarioriparia, the T. lutarioriparia distribution charateristics in Dongting Lake and its storage characteristics of nutrients were investigated in this study. Remote sensing interpretation results showed that the total area of T. lutarioriparia in Dongting Lake wetland was 58, 450 ha, 48.31% of which distributed in South Doting Lake wetlands. The nutrients contents were significantly different in T. lutarioriparia tissues, ranking in the descending order of spikes (TN 27.90 mg/g, TP 3.46 mg/g)>leaves (TN 16.38 mg/g, TP 2.11 mg/g)>stems (TN 5.38 mg/g, TP 0.85 mg/g). The total P quantities in each T. lutarioriparia tissue were ranked in the order: stems (560.26 t)>leaves (396.52 t)>spikes (284.67 t), while the total N quantities were within the range of 2170.02-2801.3 t. It was estimated that about 7712.99 t of TN and 1241.45 t of TP were annually removed from Dongting Lake by reaping T. lutarioriparia. The nutrients stored in the dead tissues of T. lutarioriparia might possess non-negligible impact on the water quality of Doting Lake.


1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damon L. Oliver

The regent honeyea ter, Xanthomyza phrygia, is an endangered woodland bird whose range and population size have decreased in the last thirty years. Suggested reasons for this decline include abnormal breeding behaviour, poor reproductive output, and excessive inter- and intra-specific aggression. This study investigated the breeding behaviour and aggressive interactions of regent honeyeaters during the nest construction, incubation, nestling, and fledgling stages in two consecutive breeding seasons in the Bundarra–Barraba region near Armidale, New South Wales. The female was entirely responsible for nest construction and incubation, which is typical of many honeyeaters. Both parents fed the nestlings, and at a similar rate, although only the female brooded chicks on the nest. Both parents fed the fledglings. The mean frequency at which nestlings (23 times per hour) and fledglings (29 times per hour) were fed is the highest published rate of any non-cooperative honeyeater. Breeding males were involved in significantly more aggressive interactions with conspecifics and other nectarivores than were females, although the overall percentage of day-time spent in aggression for both sexes was low (2.5%). It appears that abnormal breeding behaviour, poor reproductive effort, or excessive aggression are not experienced by this species in northern New South Wales, and that other factors are likely to be responsible for its current low population level.


1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Lodge

Burrs were collected from paddocks on 3 properties in northern New South Wales where the age of the Trifolium subterraneum var. brachycalycinum cv. Clare swards varied from 19 to 28 years. At 1 site burrs were also sampled from swards sown 2 and 10 years previously. Twenty seedlings from these burrs and 20 plants of certified cv. Clare were grown as spaced plants in a nursery. These were assessed for vegetative and floral characters, flowering time, number of seeds per burr, seed weight, and percentage hardseed after storage at 25/25�C for 6 months and 25/45�C for a further 6 months. For most plants the mean number of days from sowing to first flower was similar to that of Clare. Compared with the naturalised strains, Clare had the lowest (P<0.05) mean number of seeds per burr: about 25% below the mean of the strains (2.7 seeds per burr). While the lowest mean seed weights of the strains were not significantly different from those of Clare, the seed weights of plants from 3 sites were higher (P<0.05) than those of Clare. After storage for either 6 or 12 months, hardseed levels were also lowest (P<0.05) for Clare. Plants from the 2-year-old sward had the same median number of seeds per burr (2.0) as Clare. As sward age increased, the median number of seeds per burr increased to 2.8. Hardseed percentages were lowest for plants of Clare and for those from the 2-year-old sward after 6 months, and for Clare after 12 months. These studies indicated the presence of divergent strains in old swards of Clare in a summer rainfall environment. Natural selection among variability within Clare is the most likely reason for the development of these strains in an environment marginal for the long-term persistence of this softseeded cultivar. Although strains had the same vegetative and floral markings as Clare, differences in ecologically important characters such as number of seeds per burr, seed weight, and hardseededness may result in plants that are better adapted to the environment in which they evolved. From these studies 23 plants of T. subterraneum var. brachycalycinum were selected for further evaluation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 643 ◽  
Author(s):  
LC Bowling ◽  
PD Baker

The occurrence of a severe cyanobacterial bloom is described. This bloom affected almost 1000 km of the Barwon-Darling River, New South Wales, Australia, in November and December 1991 and was dominated by Anabaena circinalis Rabenhorst. This cyanobacterium was present in concentrations of around half a million cells per millilitre at some localities during its peak in mid November. Moderate to very high toxicity was demonstrated by mouse bioassay at many localities during this time. The bloom was attributed to very low flow conditions and high nutrient concentrations, especially of total phosphorus. However, warm water temperatures, elevated pH, reduced turbidity, and improved water transparency would also have been contributing factors. Very high ammonia concentrations were also observed during the bloom. The bloom declined during December and was eventually flushed from the river by increased flows following heavy catchment rainfall between mid December and early January.


1954 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 422 ◽  
Author(s):  
EG Hallsworth ◽  
FR Gibbons ◽  
TH Lemerle

A study has been made of the nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphate, and pH levels of the wheat soils of north-western New South Wales, and the cultivation practices adopted. They are found generally to be high in both total and available phosphate, and particularly high figures for available phosphate, over 1000 p.p.m., were found in limited areas. The nitrogen levels of the virgin chernozemic soils are distinctly higher than those of the red-brown earths and red solodic soils, but soils of all groups show a decline with cultivation, which is most rapid in the first 10 years. The introduction of periods under lucerne raises the nitrogen level, but the wheat/grazed fallow or wheat/grazing oats appear to cause the same nitrogen losses as are encountered under continuous wheat, in spite of the prevalence of stubble burning which inevitably accompanies this practice. The average yields of wheat on the chernozemic soils are distinctly higher than those obtained on the red-brown earths and red solodic soils, on some of which nitrogen appears to be limiting.


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