Campus ecology: Bridging the gap between campus sustainability efforts and urban ecology

Over the last 15 years, the field of campus sustainability efforts has made great strides in addressing resource use, sustainability education and in developing environmental and sustainability policies at higher education institutions. Concurrently, ecologists have begun to develop the field of urban ecology, the ecology of urban human-dominated areas. This research draws together these two fields by proposing that higher education institutions are small urban areas and should display the properties developed in urban ecology. First, I describe in detail urban ecology and campus sustainability and propose that an urban nitrogen budget is appropriate for the university campus by developing a conceptual campus nitrogen budget and describing how informational feedback loops could be developed. This model was then calibrated using data from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus. Nitrogen inputs were 575,804 kg and nitrogen outputs were 544,393 kg, showing a 5% nitrogen sink. On the campus, the largest nitrogen emissions were energy use for heat, electricity, commuter transportation to campus, airline travel, and travel by campus buses and cars. I then develop the proposition that a campus nitrogen assessment can be an effective tool for education and civic engagement. I follow that with developing the idea that campus sustainability projects can be an effective tool specifically for conservation biology education. Finally, I offer an example of how to put together a campus sustainability project, based upon the University of Minnesota's Sustainable Campus Initiative, a collective of faculty, students and facilities staff that have accepted a mission of improving the campus environment while increasing teaching opportunities. Overall, I show that university campuses can be described as small urban sites, using an urban nitrogen cycle to build that argument. Viewing a campus as a dynamic ecological system can be an effective tool for environmental education and civic engagement within a campus sustainability effort.