Nitrogen Emissions, Deposition, and Monitoring in the Western United States

Fenn, Mark E.; Haeuber, Richard; Tonnesen, Gail; Baron, Jill S.; Grossman‐Clarke, Susanne; Hope, Diane; Jaffe, Daniel A.; Copeland, S.; Geiser, Linda H.; Rueth, Heather M.; Sickman, James O.

doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0391:nedami]2.0.co;2

Cited by 378 publications

(332 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Assuming that 50% of all pervious areas are fertilized, 5 this would be the equivalent of 69 to 130 kg N ha −1 y −1 input via fertilization, an order of magnitude larger than estimates of total annual N deposition of <6 to 18 kg/ha. 45,46 As in previous studies, 4,20,47,48 we found that f atm in urban stormwater was high, averaging 34%. The contribution of NO 3 − to total NO 3 − atm export from watersheds ranged from 4 to 53% across all observed events ( Figure 5), and observations of f atm for individual samples within events ranged much more widely (0 to 80% over all samples).…”

Section: ■ Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Sources and Transport of Nitrogen in Arid Urban Watersheds

Hale

Turnbull

Earl

et al. 2014

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Urban watersheds are often sources of nitrogen (N) to downstream systems, contributing to poor water quality. However, it is unknown which components (e.g., land cover and stormwater infrastructure type) of urban watersheds contribute to N export and which may be sites of retention. In this study we investigated which watershed characteristics control N sourcing, biogeochemical processing of nitrate (NO 3 − ) during storms, and the amount of rainfall N that is retained within urban watersheds. We used triple isotopes of NO 3 − (δ 15 N, δ 18 O, and Δ 17 O) to identify sources and transformations of NO 3 − during storms from 10 nested arid urban watersheds that varied in stormwater infrastructure type and drainage area. Stormwater infrastructure and land coverretention basins, pipes, and grass cover dictated the sourcing of NO 3 − in runoff. Urban watersheds were strong sinks or sources of N to stormwater depending on runoff, which in turn was inversely related to retention basin density and positively related to imperviousness and precipitation. Our results suggest that watershed characteristics control the sources and transport of inorganic N in urban stormwater but that retention of inorganic N at the time scale of individual runoff events is controlled by hydrologic, rather than biogeochemical, mechanisms.

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Section: ■ Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Sources and Transport of Nitrogen in Arid Urban Watersheds

Hale

Turnbull

Earl

et al. 2014

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…-N; the NO 3 --N data were not affected. N dry , which is usually the largest component of N deposition in California and could be 10 times higher than N wet (Bytnerowicz and Fenn 1996;Fenn et al 2003), was not directly measured in our study. According to Fenn et al (2010), the atmospheric dry deposition in central Orange County ranged from 9 to 15 kg N ha -1 year -1 , so we applied a value of 12 kg N ha -1 year -1 for our N budgets.…”

Section: N Inputs From Atmospheric Deposition and Irrigation Watermentioning

confidence: 65%

Nitrogen budgets of urban lawns under three different management regimes in southern California

Wang

Haver²,

Pataki

2013

Biogeochemistry

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We constructed nitrogen (N) budgets for the lawns of three simulated residences built to test the environmental impacts of three different residential landscape designs in southern California. The three designs included: a ''Typical'' lawn planted with cool season tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix), fertilized at the recommended rate for this species (192 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 ) and irrigated with an automatic timer; a design intended to lower N and water requirements (''Low Input'') with the warm season seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) fertilized at 123 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 and irrigated with a soil moisture-based system; and a design incorporating local best practices (''Low Impact'' lawn) that included the native sedge species Carex, fertilized at 48 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 and irrigated by a weather station-based system. Plant N uptake accounted for 33.2 ± 0.5 (tall fescue), 53.7 ± 0.7 (seashore paspalum), and 12.2 ± 1.3 % (Carex) of annual N inputs, while estimated N retention in soil was relatively large and similar in the three lawns (41-46 %). At lower N and water inputs than Typical, Low Input showed the highest annual clipping yield and N uptake, although it also had higher denitrification rates. Leaching inorganic N losses remained low even from the Typical lawn (2 %), while gaseous N losses were highly variable. The Low Input lawn was most efficient in retaining N with relatively low water and N costs, although its fertilization rates could be further reduced to lower gaseous N losses. Our results suggest that the choice of a warm-season, C 4 turf species with reduced rates of irrigation and fertilization is effective in this semi-arid region to maintain high productivity and N retention in plants and soils at low N and water inputs.

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“…The post-1950 increase in emissions of available reactive nitrogen to the atmosphere, specifically ammonia and nitrogen oxides, is a major disruption of the global nitrogen cycle (Smil, 2000, Galloway et al, 1995, Vitousek et al, 1997. Current values in the western United States are at least an order of magnitude greater than background deposition values (Fenn et al, 2003a).…”

Section: Nonlinear Responses In Rocky Mountain Aquatic Ecosystems To mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear dynamics in ecosystem response to climatic change: Case studies and policy implications

Burkett

Wilcox

Stottlemyer

et al. 2005

Ecological Complexity

239

177

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Many biological, hydrological, and geological processes are interactively linked in ecosystems. These ecological phenomena normally vary within bounded ranges, but rapid, nonlinear changes to markedly different conditions can be triggered by even small differences if threshold values are exceeded. Intrinsic and extrinsic ecological thresholds can lead to effects that cascade among systems, precluding accurate modeling and prediction of system response to climate change. Ten case studies from North America illustrate how changes in climate can lead to rapid, threshold-type responses within ecological communities; the case studies also highlight the role of human activities that alter the rate or direction of system response to climate change. Understanding and anticipating nonlinear dynamics are important aspects of adaptation planning since responses of biological resources to changes in the physical climate system are not necessarily proportional and sometimes, as in the case of complex ecological systems, inherently nonlinear. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Nitrogen Emissions, Deposition, and Monitoring in the Western United States

Cited by 378 publications

References 42 publications

Sources and Transport of Nitrogen in Arid Urban Watersheds

Sources and Transport of Nitrogen in Arid Urban Watersheds

Nitrogen budgets of urban lawns under three different management regimes in southern California

Nonlinear dynamics in ecosystem response to climatic change: Case studies and policy implications

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