Browsing by Author "Groffman, PM"

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Open Access
Convergent Surface Water Distributions in U.S. Cities
(Ecosystems, 2014-01-01) Steele, MK; Heffernan, JB; Bettez, N; Cavender-Bares, J; Groffman, PM; Grové, JM; Hall, S; Hobbie, SE; Larson, K; Morse, JL; Neill, C; Nelson, KC; O’Neil-Dunne, J; Ogden, L; Pataki, DE; Polsky, C; Roy Chowdhury, R
Earth's surface is rapidly urbanizing, resulting in dramatic changes in the abundance, distribution and character of surface water features in urban landscapes. However, the scope and consequences of surface water redistribution at broad spatial scales are not well understood. We hypothesized that urbanization would lead to convergent surface water abundance and distribution: in other words, cities will gain or lose water such that they become more similar to each other than are their surrounding natural landscapes. Using a database of more than 1 million water bodies and 1 million km of streams, we compared the surface water of 100 US cities with their surrounding undeveloped land. We evaluated differences in areal (A WB) and numeric densities (N WB) of water bodies (lakes, wetlands, and so on), the morphological characteristics of water bodies (size), and the density (D C) of surface flow channels (that is, streams and rivers). The variance of urban A WB, N WB, and D C across the 100 MSAs decreased, by 89, 25, and 71%, respectively, compared to undeveloped land. These data show that many cities are surface water poor relative to undeveloped land; however, in drier landscapes urbanization increases the occurrence of surface water. This convergence pattern strengthened with development intensity, such that high intensity urban development had an areal water body density 98% less than undeveloped lands. Urbanization appears to drive the convergence of hydrological features across the US, such that surface water distributions of cities are more similar to each other than to their surrounding landscapes. © 2014 The Author(s).
Open Access
Ecological homogenization of urban USA
(Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2014-02-01) Groffman, PM; Cavender-Bares, J; Bettez, ND; Grove, JM; Hall, SJ; Heffernan, JB; Hobbie, SE; Larson, KL; Morse, JL; Neill, C; Nelson, K; O'Neil-Dunne, J; Ogden, L; Pataki, DE; Polsky, C; Chowdhury, RR; Steele, MK
A visually apparent but scientifically untested outcome of land-use change is homogenization across urban areas, where neighborhoods in different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas, and aquatic features. We hypothesize that this homogenization extends to ecological structure and also to ecosystem functions such as carbon dynamics and microclimate, with continental-scale implications. Further, we suggest that understanding urban homogenization will provide the basis for understanding the impacts of urban land-use change from local to continental scales. Here, we show how multi-scale, multidisciplinary datasets from six metropolitan areas that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ; Miami, FL; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Minneapolis-St Paul, MN; and Los Angeles, CA) can be used to determine how household and neighborhood characteristics correlate with land-management practices, land-cover composition, and landscape structure and ecosystem functions at local, regional, and continental scales. © The Ecological Society of America.
Open Access
Ideas and perspectives: Strengthening the biogeosciences in environmental research networks
(Biogeosciences, 2018-08-15) Richter, DD; Billings, SA; Groffman, PM; Kelly, EF; Lohse, KA; McDowell, WH; White, TS; Anderson, S; Baldocchi, DD; Banwart, S; Brantley, S; Braun, JJ; Brecheisen, ZS; Cook, CS; Hartnett, HE; Hobbie, SE; Gaillardet, J; Jobbagy, E; Jungkunst, HF; Kazanski, CE; Krishnaswamy, J; Markewitz, D; O'Neill, K; Riebe, CS; Schroeder, P; Siebe, C; Silver, WL; Thompson, A; Verhoef, A; Zhang, G
© Author(s) 2018. Long-term environmental research networks are one approach to advancing local, regional, and global environmental science and education. A remarkable number and wide variety of environmental research networks operate around the world today. These are diverse in funding, infrastructure, motivating questions, scientific strengths, and the sciences that birthed and maintain the networks. Some networks have individual sites that were selected because they had produced invaluable long-term data, while other networks have new sites selected to span ecological gradients. However, all long-term environmental networks share two challenges. Networks must keep pace with scientific advances and interact with both the scientific community and society at large. If networks fall short of successfully addressing these challenges, they risk becoming irrelevant. The objective of this paper is to assert that the biogeosciences offer environmental research networks a number of opportunities to expand scientific impact and public engagement. We explore some of these opportunities with four networks: the International Long-Term Ecological Research Network programs (ILTERs), critical zone observatories (CZOs), Earth and ecological observatory networks (EONs), and the FLUXNET program of eddy flux sites. While these networks were founded and expanded by interdisciplinary scientists, the preponderance of expertise and funding has gravitated activities of ILTERs and EONs toward ecology and biology, CZOs toward the Earth sciences and geology, and FLUXNET toward ecophysiology and micrometeorology. Our point is not to homogenize networks, nor to diminish disciplinary science. Rather, we argue that by more fully incorporating the integration of biology and geology in long-term environmental research networks, scientists can better leverage network assets, keep pace with the ever-changing science of the environment, and engage with larger scientific and public audiences.