Effects of Floodplain Restoration and Winter Cover Crops on Nutrient Export from Agricultural Catchments

Excess nutrient runoff from agricultural fields can enter nearby streams and rivers, harming sensitive species, contaminating water supplies, and fueling downstream algal blooms and low-oxygen “dead zones.” Research by Jen Tank, Galla Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, examines the benefit of two conservation strategies that potentially prevent excess nutrients from being transported to downstream ecosystems: one practice implemented in waterways combined with one applied to the surrounding landscape. Together, she predicts these practices will reduce nitrogen and phosphorus headed for sensitive coastal systems that are vulnerable to algal blooms and subsequent hypoxic zones.