Seasonal dynamics of iron and phosphorus in reservoir sediments in Eucalyptus plantation region

Abstract

Abstract Background Iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) dynamics in sediments have direct and indirect impacts on water quality. However, the mobility of P and Fe in reservoir sediments in Eucalyptus plantation region remains unclear. This study examined P and Fe pollution in sediments in a Eucalyptus plantation region using the novel planar optode, the ZrO-Chelex DGT, and the DIFS model. Results Direct in situ investigations showed that the levels of labile P and Fe were smaller in the Eucalyptus species-dominated sediments (X2) compared to sediments without Eucalyptus species (X1). The mean concentration of labile P and Fe decreased by 25% and 42% from X1 to X2. The decrement was insignificant (p = 0.20) in the surface sediment concentration for labile P. The significant disparity for DGT-Fe (Fe2+) (p = 0.03) observed in the surface sediments could be attributed to the Eucalyptus species’ elevated organic matter (tannins) concentration at X2, which reacted and consumed labile Fe. For both regions, the maximum concentration of labile P and Fe occurred in November (autumn). The reductive decomposition of Fe/Mn oxides was recognized as the main driver for their high P efflux in July and November. Low concentration of labile P and Fe was observed in December (winter) due to the adsorption of Fe/Mn oxides. The concentration of labile Fe synchronizes uniformly with that of labile P in both sediments indicating the existence of a coupling relationship (r > 0.8, p < 0.01) in both regions. The positive diffusion fluxes in both regions suggested that the sediments release labile P and Fe. The fluxes of labile P and Fe in both regions were substantially higher (p < 0.05) in the summer (anoxic period) than winter (aerobic period), indicating that hypoxia and redox conditions influenced the seasonal efflux of labile P and Fe. From the DIFS model, the replenishment ability of reactive P was higher during the anoxic period (R = 0.7, k1 = 79.4 day− 1, k-1 = 0.2 day− 1) than the aerobic period (R = 0.4, k1 = 14.2 day− 1, k-1 = 0.1 day− 1), suggesting that oxygen inhibited the efflux of P in the sediments. Conclusion Our results indicated that hypoxia, Eucalyptus species (organic matter (tannins)), and redox conditions influenced the seasonal mobility of sediment labile P and Fe. Our findings provided an insight into the mobility of labile P and Fe in Eucalyptus-dominated sediments and, moreover, serves as a reference for developing future studies on Eucalyptus-dominated sediments.