Nitrogen (N) loss from agricultural fields can cause eutrophication in downstream freshwater systems, but the use of multi-pond networks can mitigate N losses from agricultural runoff. This study presents an analysis of the relationships between N retention and land use before and after rainfall events with the goal of identifying differences in agricultural runoff in four sub-watersheds with 3, 3, 7, and 7 ponds, respectively. The total N concentrations before rainfall ranged from 1.32 mg·L-1 to 6.32 mg·L-1, and total N (TN) levels in the ponds after rainfall varied from 2.8 mg·L-1 to 16.99 mg·L-1 and typically contained 20%-74% nitrate (NO3--N). The mean concentration retention efficiencies in the four sub-watersheds for TN, NO3--N, and ammonium (NH4+-N) were 50.09%, 48.71%, and 52.75%, respectively. The N retention efficiency in sub-watershed 1 (3 ponds) was the lowest among the four sub-watersheds. The N retention mass in sub-watershed 2 (3 ponds) was only 56.10 kg, and this value was far lower than that of sub-watershed 4 (324.43 kg, 7 ponds). The number of ponds in the sub-watersheds was not the only factor that contributed to the effective retention of non-point source N in-situ, but pond area and ditch density also significantly affected N retention. Thus, pond area and ditch density should be increased for similar multi-pond areas. However, managing multi-ponds to maximize N retention requires dynamic monitoring and management over the long term.
Keywords: agricultural watershed; landscape structure; multi-pond system; nitrogen retention; non-point source pollution.