Dustin Kincaid Provides Research and Answers about Land Use and Lake Phosophorus

 

 
The increasing level of phosphorus in Lake Champlain and its consequences have been a point of focus in Vermont water science for many years. Dustin Kincaid, a postdoctoral associate with the Vermont EPSCoR Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) project, recently received recognition for his exploration of how land use and time of year effect those levels. His research article, "Land Use and Season Influence Event-Scale Nitrate and Soluble Reactive Phosphorus Exports and Export Stoichiometry from Headwater Catchments," received recognition from Water Resources Research with the 2020 Editors' Choice Award.

A Team Effort

Using research supported by BREE funding, Dr. Kincaid explored land use and phosphorus runoff into the Lake Champlain Basin with a team of fellow Vermont EPSCoR researchers. Co-authors on the paper included postdoctoral associate Erin Seybold, PhD, Ecological Systems Team Co-Leaders Carol Adair, PhD and Andrew Schroth, PhD, BREE researchers Breck Bowden, PhD and Julia Perdrial, PhD, and Matthew Vaughan, PhD, Chief Scientist at the Lake Champlain Basin Program and a former Vermont EPSCoR graduate research assistant who whose work on Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) helped form the foundation that BREE was built upon.



This team gathered data from three different stream sites: Hungerford Brook, Potash Brook, and Wade Brook, all of which drain into Lake Champlain. Additionally, each brook represented a different type of stream. Hungerford is an agricultural brook that runs near farmland, Potash is a forested brook with plenty of surrounding tree cover, and Wade is an urban brook that flows near a population center. Drawing from data gathered from 2014 to 2018, the team examined both nitrogen and phosphorus levels during the ice-free seasons, measuring two elements that feed the algae blooms which have troubled Lake Champlain in the 21st century.

"Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, that flow from our landscape to Lake Champlain can influence processes including cyanobacterial blooms in the lake," said Dr. Kincaid when discussing the publication. "My collaborators and I found that land use and time of year interact to influence the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus that flow off our landscape and into streams during snow melt and rain events. We also found that nitrogen and phosphorus move differently during runoff events."

An Eye to the Future

Dr. Kincaid's research touched upon more than just measurements; it also provided some insight as to how this data can be used by land managers in the long term. The Lake Champlain watershed covers approximately 40% of Vermont, and reducing the levels of blue-green algae in the lake can assist both the environment and the Vermont economy.

"Managers looking to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus transport to the lake need to design reduction strategies specific to the nutrient, land use, and time of year," says Dr. Kincaid.



This research, and much more that received BREE support, takes an important step toward answering the why of Lake Champlain's phosphorus problem so land managers can determine how they will take steps to fix the problem in the future. The editorial board of Water Resources Research clearly agrees, and honored the article appropriately.