Can urban P conservation help to prevent the brown devolution?

Achieving better understanding phosphorus (P) flows through urban ecosystems is needed to conserve P, as non-renewable phosphate rock deposits become depleted and the global human population increases. A baseline mass flow analysis (MFA) for P developed for the Twin Cities Watershed (TCW, which includes most of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region) showed that most P input was stored in the system (65%) or leaked from it (31%); only 4% was deliberately exported as useful products. In a realistic, comprehensive conservation scenario P input was reduced by 15%; deliberate export of P in the form of sewage sludge, food waste, and landscape waste was 68% of P input. In this scenario, increased deliberate export was accomplished by decreasing leakage (to 9% of input) and storage (to 23% of input). If used as agricultural fertilizer, the deliberately exported P in the conservation scenario would support about half of the food production required by the TCW.

[1]  J. Y. King,et al.  Effect of consumption choices on fluxes of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus through households , 2007, Urban Ecosystems.

[2]  Regional nutrient trends in streams and rivers of the United States, 1993-2003. , 2009 .

[3]  R. Streatfeild,et al.  Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production , 2002 .

[4]  V. Oliveira,et al.  Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses , 1997 .

[5]  D. Weller,et al.  Net anthropogenic phosphorus inputs: spatial and temporal variability in the Chesapeake Bay region , 2008 .

[6]  H. Stefan,et al.  Chloride ion transport and mass balance in a metropolitan area using road salt , 2009 .

[7]  Stephen R Gray,et al.  Contaminant flows in urban residential water systems , 2002 .

[8]  R. Jeffery,et al.  Temporal trends in energy intake in the United States: an ecologic perspective. , 2000, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[9]  S. Boyden,et al.  The Ecology of a City and Its People , 1983 .

[10]  D. Vaccari.  Phosphorus: a looming crisis. , 2009, Scientific American.

[11]  R Bethene Ervin,et al.  Dietary intake of ten key nutrients for public health, United States: 1999-2000. , 2003, Advance data.

[12]  David W. Schindler,et al.  Recent advances in the understanding and management of eutrophication , 2006 .

[13]  S. Hobbie,et al.  Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus fluxes in household ecosystems in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, urban region. , 2011, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[14]  D. Litke.  Review of Phosphorus Control Measures in the United States and Their Effects on Water Quality , 1999 .

[15]  Jakob Magid,et al.  Urban nutrient balance for Bangkok , 2001 .

[16]  Estimating Nonpoint Source Pollution for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Using Landscape Variables , 2006 .

[17]  James R. Herring,et al.  Phosphate rock demand into the next century: Impact on wolld food supply , 1993 .

[18]  Stephen Moore,et al.  Incorporating phosphorus management considerations into wastewater management practice , 2005 .

[19]  Stephen L. Johnson,et al.  HYPOXIA IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO , 2000 .

[20]  L. Baker,et al.  Whole-system phosphorus balances as a practical tool for lake management. , 2007 .

[21]  L. Baker.  The water environment of cities , 2009 .

[22]  Michael Krennerich.  Ernährungs- und Landwirtschaftsorganisation der Vereinten Nationen (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations/FAO) , 1995 .

[23]  D. Cordell,et al.  The story of phosphorus: Global food security and food for thought , 2009 .

[24]  L. Baker,et al.  Nitrogen Balance for the Central Arizona–Phoenix (CAP) Ecosystem , 2001, Ecosystems.

[25]  S. Suh,et al.  Phosphorus use-efficiency of agriculture and food system in the US. , 2011, Chemosphere.