Sweet spots for nitrogen restoration in a coastal watershed

Sweet spots for nitrogen restoration in a coastal watershed | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sweet spots for nitrogen restoration in a coastal watershed Peter Groffman, Alexander Reisinger, Ruoyu Zhang, Dexter Locke, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4991622/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 May, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Sustainability → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Reducing nitrogen delivery to coastal waters is a “wicked problem” involving tradeoffs in environmental, economic and equity domains. Because these tradeoffs arise from spatial and temporal complexities in sources and sinks of this element, we hypothesized that a transdisciplinary focus on disproportionality could allow for the identification of “hot” or “sweet” spots where multiple factors converge to create opportunities to control nitrogen flux. We applied this approach to the Baltimore, MD USA region by mapping stream reaches with high nitrogen concentrations, hydrologic conditions amenable to stream restoration, high willingness to pay for restoration projects, and high social need for restoration, and subsequently identifying locations where these factors converge to create sweet spots. Our analysis suggests that sweet spots that optimize environmental, economic, and equity components of sustainability may be rare. The desire to bundle multiple benefits in the budgeting for environmental interventions such as stream restoration may create a sub-optimal distribution of these interventions in a sustainability context. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Biological sciences/Ecology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 May, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Sustainability → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4991622","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":365813190,"identity":"17eb2d86-7c50-4e0d-8b85-6a222486f318","order_by":0,"name":"Peter Groffman","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA60lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCChsgwd6AEJAgqOVMGpDgOUCyFokEIrWY8699+OBAwjZ5c8nnFz8w1BzOMzjAfPA2Dx4tljOeGxscSLhtuHN2TrEEw7HDxQYH2JKt8WkxuHGMTfrjj9uMG27npDEwNhxO3HCAx0yakBYJoC32G26egWnh/4Zfy/k2sJbEDTfYj8FsYcOrxXIGGzPIL8kbzuQwSyQcS0+ceZjN2HIOHi3m/McYgSF223bD8eMPP3yosU7sO9788MYbfA5DRAePAQOIrXAYj3KwFv4DMCb7AzAl30BAyygYBaNgFIw4AAAUale+fLdMxwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8371-6255","institution":"CUNY Advanced Science Research Center","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Peter","middleName":"","lastName":"Groffman","suffix":""},{"id":365813191,"identity":"7f1d4d95-ab92-45af-b7dd-dcca4398d212","order_by":1,"name":"Alexander Reisinger","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4096-2637","institution":"University of Florida","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexander","middleName":"","lastName":"Reisinger","suffix":""},{"id":365813192,"identity":"5191e406-c07c-4850-9e0b-81329ff3a385","order_by":2,"name":"Ruoyu Zhang","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3653-9927","institution":"University of Virginia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruoyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":365813193,"identity":"bf01547e-ffd9-423b-bcdb-fe974a508ce2","order_by":3,"name":"Dexter Locke","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2704-9720","institution":"USA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Baltimore Field Station","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dexter","middleName":"","lastName":"Locke","suffix":""},{"id":365813194,"identity":"6b0a7ba6-8f83-4ad5-87f5-1bb41dabda66","order_by":4,"name":"Andrew Rosenberg","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrew","middleName":"","lastName":"Rosenberg","suffix":""},{"id":365813195,"identity":"fba95baf-ec21-4d8a-abf9-a913ced12f48","order_by":5,"name":"David Newburn","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Maryland","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Newburn","suffix":""},{"id":365813196,"identity":"97bce1b2-0f21-4f2c-bf63-393576297008","order_by":6,"name":"Jonathan Duncan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Pennsylvania State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jonathan","middleName":"","lastName":"Duncan","suffix":""},{"id":365813197,"identity":"a3d0e03c-92de-475e-8612-94dedac6a74a","order_by":7,"name":"Lawrence Band","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Virginia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lawrence","middleName":"","lastName":"Band","suffix":""},{"id":365813198,"identity":"6d9d8b4c-c82d-4fce-adac-673c7ab2fe5b","order_by":8,"name":"J. 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