Ryan Benefiel: Phosphorus Retention in Agricultural Headwater Streams
2020 McKenzie/Brecher Undergraduate Scholarship Recipient
Ryan Benefiel, an undergraduate student in the School of Earth Sciences (SES), is researching Phosphorus Retention in Agricultural Headwater Streams. His SES advisor is Audrey Sawyer.
The goal of his research is to use field experiments and modeling to understand phosphorus movement from the agricultural headwater streams where farmers grow our food to the big rivers where we have traditionally monitored water quality. Along with their USDA collaborators, they are hoping to learn more about how the watershed protection efforts of farmers impact downstream water quality.
Ryan Benefiel filters a water sample roughly 6 hours after doing a stream injection, then measures the phosphate levels from the sample to quantify phosphate transport in the stream. Agricultural stream in Northwestern Ohio.
*Stay tuned for an update from Kat Zic, our other 2020 McKenzi/Brecher Undergraduate Scholarship recipient.
