Grantee Research Project Results
2014 Progress Report: Center for Integrated Multi-scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions
EPA Grant Number: R835568Center: Center for Integrated Multi‐scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions
Center Director: Shortle, James S.
Title: Center for Integrated Multi-scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions
Investigators: Shortle, James S. , Royer, Matthew B , Ready, Richard C , Brooks, Robert P. , Boyer, Elizabeth W. , Kemanian, Armen , Bills, Brian
Current Investigators: Shortle, James S. , Brooks, Robert P. , Boyer, Elizabeth W. , Ready, Richard C , Royer, Matthew B , Bills, Brian , Kemanian, Armen
Institution: Pennsylvania State University , USDA , University of Maryland - Eastern Shore
Current Institution: Pennsylvania State University , University of Maryland - Eastern Shore , USDA
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2018
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2013 through July 31,2014
Project Amount: $2,220,649
RFA: Centers for Water Research on National Priorities Related to a Systems View of Nutrient Management (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water
Objective:
The Center melds transdisciplinary scientific discovery and engagement activities in an integrated systems approach to enhance the decision making capacity of key water and nutrient management institutional agents. Our purpose is to discover optimal solutions that reduce nutrient pollution through understanding 1) the sources and flow paths of nutrients as they impact water quality and ecosystem function, and 2) how individual management practices integrate and aggregate from field to watershed scales. Thus, the first objective of the CNS is to develop advanced conceptual and scientific “webs of nutrient flows” characterizing contemporary agricultural systems, as well as the relative nutrient inputs and outputs of non-agricultural systems. The second objective is to use an integrated decision support process involving modeling, empirical data, and lessons learned to develop community-based, spatially-explicit, nutrient intervention scenarios that engage and inform stakeholders for high impact water management decisions.
This project involves several steps, which are carried out via seven team projects: Project 1/Team1—Drivers and Interventions; Project 2/Team 2—Harmonizing Models; Project 3/Team 3—Ecological Assessment; Project 4/Team 4—Best Management Practices; Project 5/Team 5—Informatics; Project 6/Team 6—Economics and Ecosystem Services; and Project 7/Team 7—Engagement, Education, and Outreach.
Progress Summary:
Center-wide accomplishments involved integrated efforts among and between teams and were as follows:
- Three all-hands meetings (PSU campus—December 2013 and May 2014; SERC—September 2014) to discuss Center goals and objectives, foster integration within and across research teams, review progress, plan next steps, start scenario building, etc. The SERC meeting included engagement with the members of the Community Partners Council (CPC) and EPA Project Officer.
- Two meetings, excluding the SERC meeting, with the CPC to 1) introduce the project and discuss CPC engagement and expectations, 2) report progress and solicit feedback and advice, and 3) introduce scenario concepts and train the CPC to participate in the third all-hands meeting to develop scenarios.
- Detailed characterizations of the four target watersheds: Manokin River, Mahantango Creek, Spring Creek, and Conewago Creek. Watersheds were consistently mapped using 2011 NLCD to visualize landscape condition and patterns in order to compare watershed size (i.e., magnitude of treated land to address for each watershed), dominant land uses, stream networks (including impaired segments), and county/municipal boundaries.
- Research team workshops to foster interdisciplinary discovery and to develop genuine interest across teams. The workshops presented various modeling and ecological methods (e.g., SWAT, SWR, and PIHM/Cycles modeling workshops), nutrient cascades and mass balances, and watershed scenario concepts and development methods.
- Watershed tours to familiarize project members with the four target watersheds.
- A CNS website to foster communication and disseminate information to team members, CPC members, stakeholders, and other interested parties. The website also will serve as the respository for all tools and resources developed by the project.
- Seminar series titled ‘Science for Solutions: Combating the Wicked Nutrient Problem.’ Each seminar was conducted in webinar format with recordings available on the CNS website. Online audiences included stakeholders from academia, government agencies, consulting firms, and nonprofits.
Other progress related to the first objective (“webs of nutrient flows”) is covered under specific team projects below. Progress on the second objective (development of nutrient intervention scenarios) was accomplished primarily through all-hands meetings and numerous weekly or bi-weekly meetings between the Executive Leadership team, team leaders, and individual team members, as well as interactions with the stakeholders and the CPC. During this latter process, we completed the following tasks:
- Defined nutrient solution scenarios in terms of tactics (enterprise-level challenges) and strategies (system-level challenges) and refined selection criteria to ensure scenarios were designed to 1) meet water quality goals (both locally and for the Chesapeake Bay) determined through the TMDL process, 2) test and demonstrate models and tools developed by the project, and 3) explore the tradeoffs between important tactics and strategies.
- Developed the following categories of scenario tests: 1) assessing current conditions based on existing land use; 2) implementing Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs); 3) targeting WIP cost-effective portfolios; 4) enhancing targeting of WIPs with multi-objective alternatives (i.e., stacking benefits) based on watershed stakeholder inputs; and 5) exploring the effects of transformational change.
- Established a comprehensive list of tactics and strategies organized by categories (e.g., conservation cropping systems) and, through much deliberation, determined the most appropriate tactics and strategies for each of the four target watersheds.
- Began implementation of the watershed-specific scenario tests.
Future Activities:
Center-wide activities planned for Year 2 include the following:
- Engage stakeholders in scenario development, selection of scenario outcome evaluation criteria, and assessment of scenario outcomes.
- Participate in EPA’s National Priority Centers Kickoff Workshop (Narragansett, RI) to enhance communication strategies and syngergistic collaborations between Research Centers.
- Team workshops on tools development and deployment, stakeholder engagement processes, and other topics as determined to be necessary.
- Test the scenario building process by initially applying scenarios 2) WIPs and 3) cost-effective WIP portfolios on a small sub-watershed of Mahantango Creek (WE38—the USDA ARS’ intensive study watershed). The main purpose of this step is to confirm the specific steps necessary to complete a scenario, including flows between teams. We will finalize this process at our next all-hands meeting in January 2015. All five categories of scenario tests then will be implemented for each of the four focal watersheds.
- Tools and resources development by the project will be a top priority. These will be developed with active engagement of stakeholders to determine needs, appropriate tools, and deployment methods. Given our interest in the development of processes that can be generalized beyond the project, we will actively capture and evaluate these developmental processes. Refer these results back to the CPC for input (a.k.a., ‘Round 2’ of the CPC engagement process).
- Continue the CNS’ Science for Solutions seminar series, beginning with seminars by team members Dr. Arthur Allen (UMES) and Dr. Ray Bryant (USDA-ARS) in January, and Dr. Robert Brooks (PSU) in February. Additional seminar participants will be recruited from the project and from other researchers.
Journal Articles: 14 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other center views: | All 57 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 14 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Amin MGM, Veith TL, Collick AS, Karsten HD, Buda AR. Simulating hydrological and nonpoint source pollution processes in a karst watershed: a variable source area hydrology model evaluation. Agricultural Water Management 2017;180(Part B):212-223. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Amin M, Veith T, Shortle J, Karsten H, Kleinman P. Addressing the spatial disconnect between national-scale total maximum daily loads and localized land management decisions. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 2020;49(3):613-627. |
R835568 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Coi D, Ready R, Shortle J. Valuing water quality benefits from adopting best management practices:A spatial approach. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 2020;49(3):582-592. |
R835568 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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DeWalle DR, Boyer EW, Buda AR. Exploring lag times between monthly atmospheric deposition and stream chemistry in Appalachian forests using cross-correlation. Atmospheric Environment 2016;146:206-214. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Horan R, Shortle J. Endogenous Risk and Point-nonpoint Uncertainty Trading Ratios. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 2017;99(2):427-446. |
R835568 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Iavorivska L, Boyer EW, Miller MP, Brown MG, Vasilopoulos T, Fuentes JD, Duffy CJ. Atmospheric inputs of organic matter to a forested watershed: variations from storm to storm over the seasons. Atmospheric Environment 2016;147:284-295. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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King MD, Bryant RB, Saporito LS, Buda AR, Allen AL, Hughes LA, Hashem FM, Kleinman PJ, May EB. Urea release by intermittently saturated sediments from a coastal agricultural landscape. Journal of Environmental Quality 2017;46(2):302-310. |
R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Kuwayama Y, Olmstead S. Hydroeconomic modeling of resource recovery from wastewater:Implications for water quality and quantity management. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 2020;49(3):593-602. |
R835568 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Leonard L, Duffy CJ. Automating data-model workflows at a level 12 HUC scale: watershed modeling in a distributed computing environment. Environmental Modelling & Software 2014;61:174-190. |
R835568 (2014) R835568 (2015) R835568 (2016) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Miller MP, Boyer EW, McKnight DM, Brown MG, Gabor RS, Hunsaker CT, Iavorivska L, Inamdar S, Johnson DW, Kaplan LA, Lin H, McDowell WH, Perdrial JN. Variation of organic matter quantity and quality in streams at Critical Zone Observatory watersheds. Water Resources Research 2016;52(10):8202-8216. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit |
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Ranjan R, Shortle J. Protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems in multiple stressor environments. Water Economics and Policy 2017;3(2):650011. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit Exit |
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Sebestyen SD, Shanley JB, Boyer EW, Kendall C, Doctor DH. Coupled hydrological and biogeochemical processes controlling variability of nitrogen species in streamflow during autumn in an upland forest. Water Resources Research 2014;50(2):1569-1591. |
R835568 (2015) R835568 (2016) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Shortle J, Horan RD. Nutrient pollution: a wicked challenge for economic instruments. Water Economics and Policy 2017;3(02):1650033. |
R835568 (2016) R835568 (2017) |
Exit |
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Williams MR, Buda AR, Elliott HA, Hamlett J, Boyer EW, Schmidt JP. Groundwater flow path dynamics and nitrogen transport potential in the riparian zone of an agricultural headwater catchment. Journal of Hydrology 2014;511:870-879. |
R835568 (2014) R835568 (2015) R835568 (2016) |
Exit Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Nutrient pollution, best management practices, nitrogen and phosphorus budgets, community engagement, hydrological models, stakeholders, shared discovery, scenarios, partnership, decision support, Pennsylvania Integrated Hydrologic Model, PIHM, cycles, agro-ecosystem models, model intercomparison, HydroTerre, cyber-infrastructure, nutrient and pollution transformation and transport, SWAT modeling, tactical interventions, Stream-Wetland-Riparian Index, ecological assessment, ecosystem services, nonmarket valuation, aquatic macroinvertebrates, watershed planning, Chesapeake Bay, Susquehanna River, Mid-Atlantic Region;Relevant Websites:
- Center for Nutrient Solutions | Penn State Exit
- USDA Agricultural Research Service
- Environment and Natural Resources Institute | Penn State Exit
- Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Modeling System Exit
- HydroTerre: Data services | Penn State Exit
- Riparia | Penn State Exit
- Cycles | Kemanian Agroecosystems Modeling Laboratory | Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.