Polsky Colin

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Last Name
Polsky
First Name
Colin
ORCID
0000-0003-2701-5600

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  • Article
    Satisfaction, water and fertilizer use in the American residential macrosystem
    (IOPScience, 2016-02-29) Groffman, Peter M. ; Grove, J. Morgan ; Polsky, Colin ; Bettez, Neil D. ; Morse, Jennifer L. ; Cavender-Bares, Jeannine ; Hall, Sharon J. ; Heffernan, James B. ; Hobbie, Sarah E. ; Larson, Kelli L. ; Neill, Christopher ; Nelson, Kristen ; Ogden, Laura ; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath ; Pataki, Diane E. ; Roy Chowdhury, Rinku ; Locke, Dexter H.
    Residential yards across the US look remarkably similar despite marked variation in climate and soil, yet the drivers of this homogenization are unknown. Telephone surveys of fertilizer and irrigation use and satisfaction with the natural environment, and measurements of inherent water and nitrogen availability in six US cities (Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Los Angeles) showed that the percentage of people using irrigation at least once in a year was relatively invariant with little difference between the wettest (Miami, 85%) and driest (Phoenix, 89%) cities. The percentage of people using fertilizer at least once in a year also ranged narrowly (52%–71%), while soil nitrogen supply varied by 10x. Residents expressed similar levels of satisfaction with the natural environment in their neighborhoods. The nature and extent of this satisfaction must be understood if environmental managers hope to effect change in the establishment and maintenance of residential ecosystems.
  • Article
    Ecological homogenization of urban USA
    (Ecological Society of America, 2014-02) Groffman, Peter M. ; Cavender-Bares, Jeannine ; Bettez, Neil D. ; Grove, J. Morgan ; Hall, Sharon J. ; Heffernan, James B. ; Hobbie, Sarah E. ; Larson, Kelli L. ; Morse, Jennifer L. ; Neill, Christopher ; Nelson, Kristen ; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath ; Ogden, Laura ; Pataki, Diane E. ; Polsky, Colin ; Roy Chowdhury, Rinku ; Steele, Meredith K.
    A visually apparent but scientifically untested outcome of land-use change is homogenization across urban areas, where neighborhoods in different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas, and aquatic features. We hypothesize that this homogenization extends to ecological structure and also to ecosystem functions such as carbon dynamics and microclimate, with continental-scale implications. Further, we suggest that understanding urban homogenization will provide the basis for understanding the impacts of urban land-use change from local to continental scales. Here, we show how multi-scale, multi-disciplinary datasets from six metropolitan areas that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ; Miami, FL; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Minneapolis–St Paul, MN; and Los Angeles, CA) can be used to determine how household and neighborhood characteristics correlate with land-management practices, land-cover composition, and landscape structure and ecosystem functions at local, regional, and continental scales.