Groundwater and the phosphorus budget of Oneida Lake

Sol Lisboa (PhD student), Rebecca Schneider, Todd Walter, Lars Rudstam

Groundwater inputs of phosphorus (P) is a largely ignored component of the P budget in lakes. The groundwater connection has been one of Dr Schneider’s interests for some time and now Dr Lisboa studied this aspect of the P budget in Oneida Lake for several years, finishing her PhD in 2023. P concentration in groundwater can be high but variable. In 2020, Lisboa measured groundwater P input at many stations around the lake to better understand this variability. Groundwater influx of TP was large in these years and may contribute as much as 40% of the summer P influx to the lake. In 2023, work continued on data analysis and thesis writing. Sol successfully defended her thesis in July 2023.