The Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) at Arizona State University conducts research, education, and problem-solving related to sustainability, with a special focus on urban environments. Many of the research initiatives under GIOS, such as the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, focus on the Phoenix metropolitan area. Greater Phoenix is one of the fastest-growing urban environments in the United States and, as such, is a preeminent laboratory for solving problems that face urban areas around the globe.

Denitrification is a key step returning nitrogen from soils to the atmosphere. The primary denitrifiers in most ecosystems are heterotrophic bacteria. Although, fungi are also known to transform nitrogen compounds, such as the production of N2O, but few studies have explored this process in soils. Aridland systems experience high temperatutres and low moisture conditions, favoring fungi in these environments. Thus, we explored the role of fungi and bacteria in denitrification of Sonoran Desert soils.

The Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project is based in the central Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix region, embedded in the Sonoran Desert. As the fifth-largest and, until recently, the fastest-growing city in the US, Phoenix is an excellent location for urban ecological research. Phoenix was established after the Civil War, initially one of several small towns surrounded by irrigated farmland. Continued agrarian expansion predated the explosive growth of housing in the second half of the 20th century.

Experiments or projects are central to all research endeavors, and LTER sites encompass many. Research projects are commonly documented at the site-level using various methods in order to maintain records for annual reporting, field site permissions, coordination of research activities in space and time, and for linking datasets and other products to individuals.

Human settlements in both arid lands and cities must, of necessity, alter hydrological regimes and geomorphology to provide clean, reliable drinking water, water for agriculture, and protection from flooding. Additionally, people also create substantial modifications to provide water for manufacturing, recreation, aesthetics, and sense of place. All of these practices can result in elimination or degradation of existing aquatic ecosystems, as well as creation of new ecosystems such as artificial lakes, stormwater retention basins, mitigation wetlands, groundwater recharge ponds, etc.

Human management of landscapes is a primary cause of global environmental change. In residential landscapes, homeowner yard management can affect ecological properties and processes locally and regionally. For example, turfgrass lawns are now one of the largest irrigated crops in the U.S., contributing to high water and fertilizer use. Social drivers, such as personal values or Homeowner Association (HOA) regulations, also impact individual yard management decisions.

Despite the increased recognition of the importance of urban sprawl and landscape fragmentation on social-ecological systems, comparative research on cities across the United States is limited. Therefore, we developed a cross-site comparative study on the land spatial pattern across five LTER sites in the US Southwest. This poster examines the land pattern characteristics for an individual site - Central Arizona Phoenix (CAP).

Urbanization has led to an increase of combustion-derived, organic carbon emissions that can deposit diffusely to soils within and surrounding cities. One of the most common types of urban pollutants, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), may be toxic and are detrimental to environmental quality. Despite this concern, there is a considerable gap in our knowledge about the environmental fate of PAHs in highly populated urban areas.

It is well established that hydrological and ecological processes are closely coupled in natural ecosystems. The nature of this coupling is greatly altered in urban environments, where the built environment has modified ecosystem structure and function. These alterations are particularly pronounced in arid urban environments where the hydrological response is typically very flashy. We present a conceptual model of ecohydrological interactions in arid urban environments, focusing on feedbacks among hydrology, ecosystem structure, biogeochemistry, and erosion across multiple spatial scales.

This poster will describe the instrumentation that was placed at the school, the activities that were presented to students in grades 2-6 and future plans for teacher professional development.