Poster Details
SPATIOTEMPORAL IMPLICATIONS OF URBAN STREETSIDE VEGETATION TO NUTRIENT AND CARBON LOADS IN STORMWATER
Vegetative litter from street trees can be a significant source of nutrients and carbon to urban runoff. Most work done to analyze these nutrients has been done in mesic environments, but climate can cause differences in nutrient concentrations and leaching potential. Therefore, nutrient impacts of trees may vary across cities, even for the same species. We sought to identify the impacts of climate on leachate concentrations from litter from street trees common to both Pocatello, ID and Minneapolis, MN. We found leaf leachates of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total nitrogen (TN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were species-dependent with particularly high variation in phosphorus concentrations. We are conducting preliminary work to assess additional small-volume litter inputs from street-side vegetation throughout the growing season when nutrient uptake via primary production is highest. This information is essential and timely as many major cities face restrictions on nutrients and carbon in runoff. Ultimately, this produces actionable results for city planners on temporal variation in street-side vegetation’s role in nutrient inputs to stormwater allowing for informed practices in development of sustainable cities.
Sophie Hill (Primary Presenter/Author), Idaho State University, hillsoph@isu.edu;