EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021

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5/21/2019 | 9:30 AM - 9:45 AM | MULTIPLE STRESSORS INTERACTING ON ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN DUTCH DRAINAGE DITCHES | 251 AB

MULTIPLE STRESSORS INTERACTING ON ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN DUTCH DRAINAGE DITCHES

Drainage ditches are man-made water bodies, originally dug to reclaim wetland areas. They can be regarded as one of the most extensive aquatic habitats in the urban environment. For example, in the Netherlands alone their combined length is estimated at 300 000 km. As the land surrounding drainage ditches is used for various anthropogenic activities, they are impacted by multiple interacting stressors. We aimed to assess the impact of three pollution sources, including waste water treatment plants (WWTPs), tulip fields, and metal industry wastewater, on the ecological processes in drainage ditches, compared to ditches with low pollution pressure. We measured nutrient concentrations and toxic pressure in the water column and sediment, alongside ecological processes, such as microbial and invertebrate decomposition rates, sediment oxygen demand, and oxygen dynamics in twenty Dutch drainage ditches. Our results showed that high nutrient input from bulb fields and even higher inputs from the WWTPs related to enhanced microbial and invertebrate decomposition rates compared to unimpacted ditches, despite the observed toxic pressure. We stress the importance of assessing all the joint effects of interacting stressors to identify how ecological processes are impacted in the urban environment.

Landuse
Decomposition
Oxygen

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Presenters/Authors

Gea van der Lee (), Wageningen Environmental Research, gea.vanderlee@wur.nl;