Lancellotti Brittany V, Hensley David A
Virgin Islands EPSCoR, University of the Virgin Islands, Kingshill, Virgin Islands, USA.
Agricultural Experiment Station, University of the Virgin Islands, Kingshill, Virgin Islands, USA.
J Environ Qual. 2025 Mar-Apr;54(2):465-482. doi: 10.1002/jeq2.20667. Epub 2025 Jan 2.
Ephemeral streams are important pollutant conduits, but the mechanisms that control nutrient transport to these systems remain unclear. In the US Virgin Islands (USVI), where most streams flow ephemerally, a lack of continuous hydrologic and water quality data limits our understanding of streamflow behavior and its influence on water quality. We therefore assessed the impact of soil moisture and hydrometeorological conditions on nitrogen (N) concentrations within an ephemeral stream on St. Croix, USVI. Stream N concentrations were usually highest during initial flow events, after prolonged dryness, and declined thereafter. Nitrogen increased with shallow antecedent soil moisture and rainfall intensity and decreased with deep soil moisture and baseflow emergence, indicating it was predominantly exported to the stream via surface runoff, as opposed to subsurface leaching. Our results are the first of their kind for the USVI and could be used to improve water quality of freshwater and marine systems.
季节性溪流是重要的污染物输送通道,但控制养分向这些系统输送的机制仍不清楚。在美属维尔京群岛(USVI),大多数溪流为季节性溪流,缺乏连续的水文和水质数据限制了我们对溪流流量行为及其对水质影响的理解。因此,我们评估了土壤湿度和水文气象条件对美属维尔京群岛圣克罗伊岛一条季节性溪流中氮(N)浓度的影响。溪流中的氮浓度通常在初始流量事件期间、长期干旱之后最高,此后下降。氮随着前期浅层土壤湿度和降雨强度的增加而增加,随着深层土壤湿度和基流出现而减少,这表明它主要通过地表径流而非地下淋溶输送到溪流中。我们的研究结果在美属维尔京群岛尚属首次,可用于改善淡水和海洋系统的水质。