{"id":126,"date":"2014-03-24T19:10:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T19:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urban\/?page_id=126"},"modified":"2014-03-24T19:10:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T19:10:47","slug":"ehrenfeld-award-2013","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/ehrenfeld-award\/ehrenfeld-award-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Ehrenfeld Award 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MichaelPersonal Statement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As a PhD student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, I (Michael Pennino<\/a>) have been conducting research projects related to the impacts of urban infrastructure and watershed management on the sources, fluxes, and biogeochemistry of carbon and nutrients in urban streams and rivers.\u00a0 For the research that I presented at the 2013 Annual ESA meeting I am studying how urban stream restoration and stormwater management practices in Baltimore, MD are able to alter sources and dampen hydrologic flashiness and pulses of carbon and nutrients.\u00a0 In another project I am studying how burying streams underground in pipes in urban areas reduce nitrate retention and ecosystem metabolism.\u00a0 In a third project, I am studying the relative influence of different urban and agricultural point and diffuse sources on the export of carbon and nitrogen from the Potomac River Estuary, which drains from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Background\/Question\/Methods<\/strong><\/span>
\n \"Urban<\/a>Due to the interactive effects of urbanization and climate variability, managing impacts on watershed hydrology and biogeochemical processing has become increasingly important, particularly due to the enhanced potential for eutrophication and hypoxia in downstream coastal ecosystems.\u00a0 We examined whether headwater management (stream restoration and stormwater management) impacts the sources and fluxes of water, nitrogen, and carbon from urban watersheds along space and time.\u00a0 We compared 4 watersheds of contrasting headwater management: 2 urban degraded watersheds and 2 managed urban watersheds with stormwater best management practices (BMPs) and stream restoration.\u00a0 Surface water samples were collected biweekly at 4 USGS gauging stations located within each watershed for 2 years across baseflow and storms, and watersheds were also sampled longitudinally during 4 seasons.\u00a0 Sources of water, nitrate, and carbon were investigated using isotopic and spectroscopic tracer techniques.\u00a0 Annual fluxes of water, N, and C, were estimated using the USGS program LOADEST.<\/span><\/p>\n

Results\/Conclusions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Restored<\/a>Flow duration analysis indicated that watershed management reduced pulsing of stormflow and increased baseflow runoff.\u00a0 Water isotope data showed no significant differences between sources of water for the managed and degraded stream sites.\u00a0 Elevated levels of indicator anions (F\u2013<\/sup>, Cl\u2013<\/sup>, I\u2013<\/sup>, SO4<\/sub>2-<\/sup>) as well as greater \u201cpulses\u201d of C and N over time in the degraded vs. managed watersheds indicate potential sewage sources due to leaky sanitary sewers and greater stormdrain inputs.\u00a0 Nitrate isotope data also showed that degraded streams have significantly greater nitrate (p < 0.05) from atmospheric and potential sewage sources.\u00a0 Based on spectral carbon quality indices, degraded sites were found to have significantly (p < 0.05) more labile\/aquatic sourced, and less terrestrial organic matter than managed streams. \u00a0The degraded watersheds consistently showed highly variable, and more \u201cpulsed\u201d fluxes for N and C and indicator anions than the managed watersheds.\u00a0 While the managed watersheds showed lower total annual export for C, the annual N exports were not consistently lower than the degraded watersheds. \u00a0However, most of the C and N was exported during higher flows in the degraded watersheds, while most nutrient export for managed watersheds was during baseflow.\u00a0 Overall, the source tracking data indicate that most nitrogen and carbon originates from near stream sources, which, when unmanaged, may contribute disproportionately to watershed fluxes, particularly during extreme hydrologic events.\u00a0 Our results also suggest that watershed management strategies have the potential to dampen pulses of streamflow, sources, and reduce fluxes of carbon and nitrogen in urbanizing watersheds experiencing climate variability.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bioretention<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personal Statement As a PhD student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, I (Michael Pennino) have been conducting research projects related to the impacts of urban infrastructure and watershed management on the sources, fluxes, and biogeochemistry of carbon and nutrients in urban streams and rivers.\u00a0 For the research that I presented at the 2013 Annual ESA meeting I am…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1042,"featured_media":0,"parent":28,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-126","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}