This presentation will propose quantitative measures of ecosystem structure and function at the site scale that are appropriate for consideration in engineering design of stormwater bioretention basins. It will include examples of quantitative relationships between terrestrial ecosystem functions and traditional engineering stormwater management functions. Engineering stormwater infrastructure design typically focuses on four key objectives: control of water balance components, control of water quality and pollutant loads, control of erosive flows and velocities, and control of flood risk. To date, engineers have not focused on implications of stormwater management design and operation choices for terrestrial ecosystem structure and function. Among many possible measures of ecological structure and function, abundance and diversity of insect herbivores and their larval host plants hold particular promise as proxies for ecological structure and function which can be exploited in engineering design, and this possibility has never before been explored. The presentation will describe the collection of a significant body of relevant information in databases maintained by engineering practitioners, agricultural scientists, entomologists, spatial analysts, and other specialists. It will explain how information collected and maintained by these disciplines can be connected to provide information relevant to engineering design of bioretention systems. Preliminary findings of this research hold promise that current engineering industry standard bioretention design practice can be modified to provide more ecological function without sacrificing critical stormwater management performance objectives. These modifications can be incorporated in design and planning guidance documents and codes.
