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CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Can macrophyte harvesting from eutrophic water close the loop on nutrient loss from agricultural land?
Journal of environmental management, Vol.152, pp.210-217
2015
PMID: 25669857
Abstract
Eutrophication is a major water pollution issue and can lead to excessive growth of aquatic plant biomass (APB). However, the assimilation of nutrients into APB provides a significant target for their recovery and reuse, and harvesting problematic APB in impacted freshwater bodies offers a complementary approach to aquatic restoration, which could potentially deliver multiple wider ecosystem benefits. This critical review provides an assessment of opportunities and risks linked to nutrient recovery from agriculturally impacted water-bodies through the harvesting of APB for recycling and reuse as fertilisers and soil amendments. By evaluating the economic, social, environmental and health-related dimensions of this resource recovery from 'waste' process we propose a research agenda for closing the loop on nutrient transfer from land to water. We identify that environmental benefits are rarely, if ever, prioritised as essential criteria for the exploitation of resources from waste and yet this is key for addressing the current imbalance that sees environmental managers routinely undervaluing the wider environmental benefits that may accrue beyond resource recovery. The approach we advocate for the recycling of 'waste' APB nutrients is to couple the remediation of eutrophic waters with the sustainable production of feed and fertiliser, whilst providing multiple downstream benefits and minimising environmental trade-offs. This integrated 'ecosystem services approach' has the potential to holistically close the loop on agricultural nutrient loss, and thus sustainably recover finite resources such as phosphorus from waste. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Details
- Title
- Can macrophyte harvesting from eutrophic water close the loop on nutrient loss from agricultural land?
- Authors/Creators
- Richard S. Quilliam - University of StirlingMelanie A. van Niekerk - University of StirlingDavid R. Chadwick - Bangor UniversityPaul Cross - Bangor UniversityNick Hanley - University of St AndrewsDavey L. Jones - Bangor UniversityAndy J. A. Vinten - James Hutton InstituteNigel Willby - University of StirlingDavid M. Oliver - University of Stirling
- Publication Details
- Journal of environmental management, Vol.152, pp.210-217
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- NE/K015710/1 / UK Natural Environment Research Council, Recycling Biomass to Agricultural LANd: Capitalising on Eutrophication (ReBALAN:CE) project NE/K015710/1 / NERC; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NE/K015710/1 / Natural Environment Research Council; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Identifiers
- 991005560438707891
- Copyright
- © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.83 Bioengineering
- 3.83.1206 Constructed Wetlands
- Web Of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- ESI research areas
- Environment/Ecology