A Review of 50 Years of Study of Hydrology, Wetland Dynamics, Aquatic Metabolism, Water Quality and Trophic Status, and Nutrient Biogeochemistry in the Barataria Basin, Mississippi Delta—System Functioning, Human Impacts and Restoration Approaches
, Ronald D. DeLaune 1, Charles S. Hopkinson 3, Rachael G. Hunter 4, Gary P. Shaffer 5, Demetra Kandalepas 5, Richard F. Keim 6, G. Paul Kemp 1, Robert R. Lane 4,*, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy 1, Charles E. Sasser 1, John R. White 1 and Ivan A. Vargas-Lopez 1
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper by Day and co-authors presents a review of long-term studies on hydrology, ecology, and restoration in the Barataria Basin. My main criticism concerns the following points:
- the authors should stress more the novelty of their work and clarify what adds the present study to what already discussed in the previous reviews on Barataria Basin. Is this only an update with more recent data?
- as it stands, the paper reads like a regional technical report suitable mostly for a local audience and managers but less for an international scientific audience. I think there is a need to better highlight the ecological and economic relevance of the basin in order to translate it into a worldwide interesting and paradigmatic case study.
Specific comments:
- Abstract: at present, the Abstract is almost exclusively focused on the hydrological aspects. From the title, I would expect a more ecologically oriented paper. I suggest to partially revise the Abstract by including better all the topics.
- 1: Specify what is GOM in Fig. 1 caption.
- 5a: Specify why you presented here discharge data from three stations and why you reported only mean values without any variability. A time series is not available or are these data measured in a year only?
- 5b: Not clear what are the numbers reported in the figure legend (8016, 1047 and 154). Are they annual loads? Please specify better also in the figure caption. I don't see any indication of uncertainty in the graph. Are these loads available only for one year? Please detail better. The seasonal export of C and nutrients is not discussed and linked to the trophic state and biogeochemical functioning of the studied systems.
- Line 294: This paragraph is more appropriate for the following section 5. Section 4 is focused on the hydrological regime.
- 7: Is nitrate expressed ad mg/L of N or NO3-? Please specify.
- Line 361: Other nutrients? In Fig 7 you showed only P in addition to nitrate.
- 8: Add the significance of the relationships showed in Fig. 8.
- Line 456: Please discriminate between processes dissipating N permanently and processes removing N only temporarily, such as uptake.
- Line 458: In aquatic ecosystems, denitrification occurs primarily in the benthic compartment (sediment) and in microbial biofilms covering submerged surfaces. The role of the water column in supporting denitrification capacity is generally negligible.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Important and enjoyable read. See more detailed observations in attached.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
This paper provides a thorough review of the hydrologic changes, water quality, and vegetation changes observed in Barataria basin. I have made a few minor editorial comments on the attached document. The major point being to make some of the figures more accessible to an international audience, by labelling data sets not by whom they were collected by, but by the time period they represent.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors properly addressed all the Reviewers' requests.
