Bartholomew Megan

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Bartholomew
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  • Preprint
    Experimental assessment of the macroalgae Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus for monitoring N sources at different time-scales using stable isotope composition
    ( 2015-01) Viana, Ines G. ; Bode, Antonio ; Bartholomew, Megan ; Valiela, Ivan
    Stable isotope composition of brown macroalgae has been widely used to monitor N loading during the last decades but some of the required assumptions when using them to detect anthropogenic inputs remain untested. In this study several experiments were run with two key species, A. nodosum and F. vesiculosus, to determine internal nitrogen isotope dynamics. First, the equilibration of the isotopic values of the different parts of the thallus of these species was tested by growing them under different water sources. Then, nitrate uptake capacity and N transport along the frond were tested by 15N enrichment experiments. The results indicate that although the growing tips had the highest uptake rates, older parts of the frond of both species have the capacity to incorporate N at low rates. No evidence of N transport along the thallus, from the tip to the basal segment of the frond or the converse was found. These results show that the growing tips of these macroalgae can be used to monitor N loadings at time scales from weeks (F. vesiculosus) to months (A. nodosum). The use of non-growing parts of the thallus to do retrospective studies cannot be recommended because of their measurable exchange of N with the surrounding water.
  • Article
    Deforestation of watersheds of Panama : nutrient retention and export to streams
    (Springer, 2013-03-19) Valiela, Ivan ; Barth-Jensen, Coralie ; Stone, Thomas A. ; Crusius, John ; Fox, Sophia E. ; Bartholomew, Megan
    A series of eight watersheds on the Pacific coast of Panama where conversion of mature lowland wet forest to pastures by artisanal burning provided watershed-scale experimental units with a wide range of forest cover (23, 29, 47, 56, 66, 73, 73, 91, and 92%). We used these watersheds as a landscape-scale experiment to assess effects of degree of deforestation on within-watershed retention and hydrological export of atmospheric inputs of nutrients. Retention was estimated by comparing rainfall nutrient concentrations (volume-weighted to allow for evapotranspiration) to concentrations in freshwater reaches of receiving streams. Retention of rain-derived nutrients in these Panama watersheds averaged 77, 85, 80, and 62% for nitrate, ammonium, dissolved organic N, and phosphate, respectively. Retention of rain-derived inorganic nitrogen, however, depended on watershed cover: retention of nitrate and ammonium in pasture-dominated watersheds was 95 and 98%, while fully forested watersheds retained 65 and 80% of atmospheric nitrate and ammonium inputs. Watershed forest cover did not affect retention of dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphate. Exports from more forested watersheds yielded DIN/P near 16, while pasture-dominated watersheds exported N/P near 2. The differences in magnitude of exports and ratios suggest that deforestation in these Panamanian forests results in exports that affect growth of plants and algae in the receiving stream and estuarine ecosystems. Watershed retention of dissolved inorganic nitrogen calculated from wet plus dry atmospheric deposition varied from 90% in pasture- to 65% in forest-dominated watersheds, respectively. Discharges of DIN to receiving waters from the watersheds therefore rose from 10% of atmospheric inputs for pasture-dominated watersheds, to about 35% of atmospheric inputs for fully forested watersheds. These results from watersheds with no agriculture or urbanization, but different conversion of forest to pasture by burning, show significant, deforestation-dependent retention within tropical watersheds, but also ecologically significant, and deforestation-dependent, exports that are biologically significant because of the paucity of nutrients in receiving tropical stream and coastal waters.