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- Title
Evaluating a campus nitrogen budget for Auburn University, Alabama, USA.
- Authors
Brodbeck, A.; LeCompte, Judson; Meder, Amanda; Ricker, Matthew; Wedge, Madeline; Schurman, Hanna; Anderson, Christopher
- Abstract
Prompted by recent sustainability trends, some institutions and municipalities have begun quantifying their local impact on the nitrogen (N) cycle. To better understand the N budget at Auburn University (AU), we measured N inputs and outputs in four subsystems (near surface atmosphere, human metabolism, animal metabolism, and landscape) utilizing methods established by Savanick et al. () for the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UM). The total AU input of 245.7 Mg N yr and total output 217.5 Mg N yr was made up of the balance of subsystem inputs and outputs (near surface atmosphere 174 Mg N yr input, 174 Mg N yr output; human metabolism 22.8 Mg N yr input, 20.5 Mg N yr output; animal metabolism 39.2 Mg N yr input, 20.9 Mg N yr output; landscape 9.7 Mg N yr input, 2.1 Mg N yr output). We compared these results with N balances for UM and the University of Virginia (UVA) (Leach et al. ) and found that larger campus area was associated with higher commuter emissions, colder average temperatures were associated with more on-campus energy emissions, presence of agriculture and veterinary schools were associated with larger animal metabolism N flux, and campuses greater urban density or crop presence tended to have greater landscape N flux. We found that overall N flux for each campus was similar when normalized per capita (7-11 kg N cap yr). This study provides insight towards reaching sustainability goals at AU and other institutions and can inform decisions regarding pollution reduction plans.
- Subjects
NITROGEN; REFRIGERANTS; AUBURN University; SUSTAINABILITY; HUMAN ecology
- Publication
Urban Ecosystems, 2015, Vol 18, Issue 4, p1187
- ISSN
1083-8155
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11252-015-0458-4