Atmospheric dry nitrogen deposition and its relationship with local land use in a high nitrogen deposition region

Abstract. Local ammonia emissions from agricultural activities are often associated with high nitrogen deposition in the close vicinity of the sources. High nitrogen (N) inputs may significantly affect the local ecosystems. Over a longer term, high loads may change the composition of the ecosystems, leading to a general decrease in local biodiversity. In Europe there is currently a significant focus on the impact of atmospheric N load on local ecosystems among environmental managers and policy makers. Model tools designed for application in N deposition assessment and aimed for use in the regulation of anthropogenic nitrogen emissions are, therefore, under development in many European countries. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the current understanding and modelling parameterizations of atmospheric N deposition. A special focus is on the development of operational tools for use in environmental assessment and regulation related to agricultural ammonia emissions. For the often large number of environmental impact assessments needed to be carried out by local environmental managers there is, furthermore, a need for simple and fast model systems. These systems must capture the most important aspects of dispersion and deposition of N in the nearby environment of farms with animal production. The paper includes a discussion on the demands on the models applied in environmental assessment and regulation and how these demands are fulfilled in current state-of-the-art models.

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Chemical footprints of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on recent soil C : N ratios in Europe

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-12-4315-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 4315-4330 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

C. Mulder ◽

J.-P. Hettelingh ◽

L. Montanarella ◽

M. R. Pasimeni ◽

M. Posch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Atmospheric Deposition ◽

Nitrogen Deposition ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽

Soil C ◽

Human Interactions ◽

Anthropogenic Nitrogen ◽

Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition

Abstract. Long-term human interactions with landscape and nature produced a plethora of trends and patterns of environmental disturbances in time and space. Nitrogen deposition, closely tracking energy and land use, is known to be among the main pollution drivers, affecting both freshwater as terrestrial ecosystems. We investigated the geographical distribution of nitrogen deposition and the impacts of accumulation on recent soil carbon to nitrogen ratios over Europe. After the Second Industrial Revolution (1880–2010), large landscape stretches characterized by different atmospheric deposition caused either by industrialized areas or by intensive agriculture emerged. Nitrogen deposition affects in a still recognizable way recent soil C : N ratios despite the emission abatement of oxidized and reduced nitrogen during the last two decades. Given the seemingly disparate land-use history, we focused on ~ 10 000 unmanaged ecosystems, providing evidence for a rapid response of nature to chronic nitrogen supply by atmospheric deposition.

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