Abstract
Abstract In urban centres, leaves are customarily gathered and temporarily stored in large roadside piles prior to their transport to disposal sites. To simulate the release of total phosphorus to urban runoff, birch and trembling aspen leaves were leached with distilled water in laboratory flasks. There was no difference in rate of total phosphorus release between oven-dried and non-dried leaves. An empirical equation developed from these data and knowledge of the litterfall rates for southern Canada indicated that leaves yielded from 11 to 45 mg TP m−2 of forested watershed. This amount represents up to 5% of the total export of total phosphorus from urban catchments and has the potential to exacerbate eutrophication of municipal waters if leaf pickup is not promptly enforced.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
