Phosphorus Forms in Sediments as Indicators of Anthropic Pressures in an Agricultural Catchment in Southern Brazil

ABSTRACT Phosphorus (P) fractionation is a suitable procedure to ascertain P lability in sediments and is able to distinguish sources of P under different soil management practices in a catchment. Brazil is the second largest producer and the largest exporter of tobacco in the world. Inadequate management of cultivated areas exposes the soil to erosion processes, accelerating the transfer of sediment and P to water bodies, which leads to eutrophication. We evaluated the P forms in suspended sediments collected at two rainfall events in the stream of a small catchment in the state of Rio Grande...