My postdoctoral research examines the ecological and water quality consequences of wildfire smoke deposition on surface water systems throughout the western United States, leveraging extensive long-term monitoring datasets. This NASA-funded collaboration between CSU's Atmospheric Sciences department and USGS scientist Dr. Jill Baron at CSU's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory enables us to track long-term changes in lake water quality and ecosystem function in response to varying levels of smoke exposure with a particular focus on reactive nitrogen. By analyzing historical trends in lake chemistry, biological productivity, and ecological indicators alongside satellite-derived smoke data, we are assessing how increasing wildfire activity has affected these sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

The devastating 2018 Camp Fire unleashed an urban firestorm in Paradise, California, resulting in the destruction of over 18,000 structures. While it is known that runoff from burned wildland areas contains ash, which can carry contaminants including metals into nearby watersheds, the effects of wildland urban interface (WUI) fires, such as the Camp Fire, on surface water quality remain poorly understood. Our research investigated the impacts of extensive urban burning on surface water quality in major local watersheds. Over a period from November 2018 to May 2019, nearly 150 samples were collected, comprising baseflow and stormflow from burned and unburned downstream watersheds with varying levels of urban development. Samples were analyzed for total and filter-passing metals, dissolved organic carbon, major anions, and  bulk water quality parameters, with a subset of samples analyzed for particle size distribution. Our findings reveal that ash and debris resulting from the Camp Fire contributed to elevated metal concentrations in downstream watersheds through stormwater runoff. Total concentrations of Al, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn exceeded EPA aquatic habitat acute criteria by up to 16-fold. Metals were found mostly associated with larger grain sizes (>0.45 µm), however Al, Cr, Fe, and Pb exhibited a significant colloidal phase (<0.45 µm). This study underscores the impact of wildland-urban interface fires on nearby affected watersheds, as evidenced by increased metal concentrations. These findings highlight the potential ecological consequences associated with such fires, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing the long-term effects of WUI fires on surface water quality.

Magliozzi L.J., Matiasek S.J., Alpers C.N., Korak J., McKnight D., Foster A.L., Ryan J.N., Roth D.A., Ku P., Tsui M.T.-K., Chow A.T., and Webster J.P. (2024), Wildland-urban interface wildfire increases metal contributions to stormwater runoff in Paradise, California. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. [Link] 

The Marshall Fire of December 2021 destroyed over 1,000 homes and businesses in Boulder County, Colorado, and overlapped much of the Coal Creek watershed. Our study monitored turbidity, nutrients, metals, alkalinity, conductivity, pH, and dissolved organic carbon in Coal Creek at burned and unburned, as well as wildland and urban sites from January 2022 to December 2023. We also analyzed benthic invertebrate and periphyton communities. Our results show significantly elevated levels of suspended solids, metals, and nutrients in the burned areas compared to the unburned reference site, with some metals exceeding EPA aquatic habitat criteria. Benthic invertebrate diversity and biological integrity was reduced in the burned urban reach compared to historical data. Additionally, virtual stakeholder meetings with decision makers and land managers were held throughout the study. A public data dashboard and ArcGIS story map were created to facilitate communication with stakeholders and the community. This study both provides findings to inform future mitigation after WUI fires and offers a model of community-engaged monitoring.

Magliozzi, L. (2024). Fire, Water, and the Urban Wild: Post-Fire Aquatic Chemistry and Ecology Across Varied Hydrological Regimes in Wildland-Urban Interface Watersheds. Dissertation. [Link]

Magliozzi, L., Mansfeldt, C., McKnight, D., & Korak, J. A. (2023). Water Quality in Coal Creek Following the 2021 Marshall Fire. Natural Hazards Center Quick Response Report Series. University of Colorado Boulder. [Link] 

Recent climate trends in the Colorado Mineral Belt have intensified acid mine drainage (AMD) impacts, increasing the importance to understand trace metal and rare earth element (REE) cycling in affected watersheds. This diel study investigated biogeochemical and photochemical controls on metal and REE mobility in an AMD-impacted wetland below a large, abandoned mine. Daily photochemical cycling of H2O2 and iron species drove complex metal mobility patterns for both trace metals and REEs, with Cu, Cd, and Pb increasing during peak daylight hours (30%, 9%, and 113% respectively), while Zn, Mn, and Al decreased by 9%, 14% and 19%, respectively. REE concentrations frequently exceeded 100 µg/L for Ce, Nd, and Y, with both light REEs (LREEs) and heavy REEs (HREEs) exhibiting photochemically-driven diel fluctuations. Ce, Nd, Gd, Pr, and La concentrations increased by 3–10% during daylight hours, while Y and Dy decreased slightly (2–4%), and Sm decreased by 20%. Cerium anomaly calculations revealed distinct spatial patterns across the wetland-groundwater-creek continuum, with values ranging from 0.73 to 0.90, indicating ongoing oxidative processing of REEs throughout the system driven by retention time. These findings demonstrate that AMD-impacted wetlands are not simple flow-through systems, but rather complex environments where photochemical processes influence the cycling of both trace metals and REEs, with important implications for water quality management.

Magliozzi, L., Duren, S. & McKnight, D. Potential photochemical controls on trace metals and rare earth elements in an acid mine drainage impacted wetland. Biogeochemistry 168, 76 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-025-01271-2. [Link]