Carbon footprint” has worked its way into the lexicon of a warming world, but carbon isn’t the only gas that can tell us about the health of our changing planet. Nitrogen is another worth tracking, especially when it comes to monitoring pollutants that can adversely affect an ecosystem’s soil, water quality, plant growth and biodiversity.
In Joseph Arehart’s winning entry into the 2011 Thacher Environmental Research Contest, nitrogen concentrations, as measured in fungal plants called lichens, are analyzed in order to establish baseline pollution levels in Boulder County, Colo. Monitoring changes in the area’s “nitrogen footprint” over time can help determine the effectiveness of efforts to mitigate pollution.
The Thacher contest, an annual activity of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), awards cash prizes to grades 9-12 students whose projects show the best use of satellites and other geospatial technologies or data to study Earth.
“We believe it’s essential to provide an opportunity for, and recognize the exceptional work of, students like Joseph and this year’s other winners in the area of environmental research,” said IGES President Nancy Colleton. “They will contribute greatly to our future, which is sure to feature increasing environmental challenges.”
Arehart, who is from Boulder, earned the competition’s first-place prize of $2,000 with his study that combined chemical analysis, the Global Positioning System and geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize how nitrogen concentrations in lichens vary between urban and wilderness settings.
