Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID MT_2024_Conti

Montana Indigenous Water Research Fellowship

Institute: Montana
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $4,500

Principal Investigators: Russell Conti

Project Summary: Anthropogenic transformation of Earth’s ecosystems has led to a more than doubling of reactive nitrogen in the biosphere, resulting in elevated nitrogen loading to freshwater ecosystems in comparison to pre industrial times. Although stream ecosystems exhibit a natural ability to retain and process anthropogenic nitrogen through biological uptake and denitrification, there is strong evidence that excess nitrogen leads to nutrient saturation. Over the past few decades unprecedented population growth in mountain communities has catalyzed environmental changes that manifest slowly and insidiously, particularly in stream ecosystems. These changes have motivated a need to assess patterns, sources, and early warning signs of N saturation before irreversible ecological alterations occur. This research will evaluate how stream nitrogen dynamics have changed with population growth and development, and explore chronic nitrogen loading in a historically pristine mountain landscape.