Bahadori, Mohammad and Chen, Chengrong and Lewis, Stephen and Rashti, Mehran Rezaei and Cook, Freeman and Parnell, Andrew and Esfandbod, Maryam and Stevens, Thomas (2020) Tracing the sources of sediment and associated particulate nitrogen from different land uses in the Johnstone River catchment, Wet Tropics, north-eastern Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 157. p. 111344. ISSN 0025-326X

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Abstract

While the ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), north-eastern Australia, is being threatened by the elevated levels of sediments and nutrients discharged from adjacent coastal river systems, the source of these detrimental pollutants are not well understood. Here we used a combined isotopic (δ13C, δ15N) and geochemical (Zn, Pt and S) signatures and stable isotope analysis in R (SIAR) mixing model to estimate the contribution of different land uses to the sediment and associated particulate nitrogen delivered to the Johnstone River. Results showed that rainforest was the largest contributor of suspended and bed sediments in the river estuary (both 33.1%), followed by banana (26.7%, 20.4%), sugarcane (21.5%, 21.4%) and grazing (18.7%, 25.1%). However, bananas and sugarcane land uses had the highest contribution to sediments delivered to the coast per unit of area. This will help land managers to prioritise on-ground activities to improve water quality in the GBR lagoon.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: Mohammad Bahadori, Chengrong Chen, Stephen Lewis, Mehran Rezaei Rashti, Freeman Cook, Andrew Parnell, Maryam Esfandbod, Thomas Stevens, Tracing the sources of sediment and associated particulate nitrogen from different land uses in the Johnstone River catchment, Wet Tropics, north-eastern Australia, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 157, 2020, 111344, ISSN 0025-326X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111344. Copyright: Location Any Website Named Repository (PubMed Central, Research for Development Repository, ESRC Research Catalogue) Non-Commercial Repository Journal Website
Keywords:	Fingerprinting; Mixing models; Particulate nitrogen; Stable isotope; Geochemical signatures;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS
Item ID:	16233
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111344
Depositing User:	Andrew Parnell
Date Deposited:	05 Jul 2022 14:37
Journal or Publication Title:	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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