Quantifying denitrification following floodplain restoration via the two-stage ditch in an agricultural watershed

In agricultural streams, constructed floodplains have been shown to expand bioreactive surface area and enhance nitrate (NO3--N) removal via microbial denitrification, thereby reducing export to downstream ecosystems. At the Shatto Ditch Watershed (Indiana, USA), 0.6 km of two-stage ditch was constructed at the watershed outlet in 2007, while an additional 3.7 and 2.7 km were constructed in 2017 and 2018, respectively. We quantified denitrification following floodplain construction using experimental incubations of stream sediments and floodplain soils from Spring 2017 to Spring 2019. We measured dissolved dinitrogen gas (N-2) concentrations using membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) and found that denitrification on unconsolidated stream sediments was minimally impacted by stream dredging during two-stage construction in 2017 and 2018. In contrast, even one year after the 2017 construction, denitrification on floodplain soils fell below detection limits; we finally observed measurable rates in Spring 2019. As predicted, stream sediment denitrification was driven by water column NO3--N concentration, while organic matter limited denitrification on floodplain soils. Floodplains constructed via the two-stage ditch can increase NO3--N removal by > 20% in agricultural watersheds, representing an effective ecological engineering solution to combat downstream eutrophication. However, our results also show that denitrification on floodplain soils may take longer to recover from construction-related activities as organic matter builds up more slowly over time. As such, lags in the recovery or enhancement of ecosystem function are important to consider when documenting restoration success.