Publications by authors named "P M Groffman"

Article Synopsis
  • Urbanization negatively impacts the connection between riparian zones and other water bodies, making it harder for these zones to filter pollutants like nitrate (NO₃) and phosphate (PO₄).
  • A study over 20 years examined water table levels and pollutant concentrations at four sites in Baltimore, revealing increased connectivity and changes in pollutant levels, especially in suburban and urban areas.
  • The findings suggest that shallower water tables promote conditions that reduce NO₃ through denitrification but can increase PO₄, highlighting the influence of urban management practices and the need for further research into these dynamics.
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Urbanization profoundly impacts biodiversity and ecosystem function, exerting an immense ecological filter on the flora and fauna that inhabit it, oftentimes leading to simplistic and homogenous ecological communities. However, the response of soil animal communities to urbanization remains underexplored, and it is unknown whether their response to urbanization is like that of aboveground organisms. This study investigated the influence of urbanization on soil animal communities in 40 public parks along an urbanization gradient.

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Soil degradation is a short or long ongoing process that limits ecosystem services. Intensive land use, water scarcity, land disturbance, and global climate change have reduced the quality of soils worldwide. This degradation directly threatens most of the land in the Middle East and North Africa, while the remaining areas are at high risk of further desertification.

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Residential landscapes are essential to the sustainability of large areas of the United States. However, spatial and temporal variation across multiple domains complicates developing policies to balance these systems' environmental, economic, and equity dimensions. We conducted multidisciplinary studies in the Baltimore, MD, USA, metropolitan area to identify locations (hotspots) or times (hot moments) with a disproportionate influence on nitrogen export, a widespread environmental concern.

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