Consequences of human modification of the global nitrogen cycle

J. W. Erisman1,2, James N. Galloway3, Sybil P. Seitzinger4, A. Bleeker5, Nancy B. Dise6, Ana Maria Roxana Petrescu7,2, Allison M. Leach3, W. de Vries8
1Louis Bolk Institute, Hoofdstraat 24, 3972 LA, Driebergen, the Netherlands
2VU University Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV AV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3University of Virginia, PO Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA, USA
4International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Secretariat, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, PO Box 50005, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
5Energy research Center of the Netherlands, ECN, PO Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands
6Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, John Dalton East Building, Chester Street, Manchester M15GD, UK
7European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) Air and Climate Unit, TP290 Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Varese, Italy
8Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

Tóm tắt

The demand for more food is increasing fertilizer and land use, and the demand for more energy is increasing fossil fuel combustion, leading to enhanced losses of reactive nitrogen (N r ) to the environment. Many thresholds for human and ecosystem health have been exceeded owing to N r pollution, including those for drinking water (nitrates), air quality (smog, particulate matter, ground-level ozone), freshwater eutrophication, biodiversity loss, stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change and coastal ecosystems (dead zones). Each of these environmental effects can be magnified by the ‘nitrogen cascade’: a single atom of N r can trigger a cascade of negative environmental impacts in sequence. Here, we provide an overview of the impact of N r on the environment and human health, including an assessment of the magnitude of different environmental problems, and the relative importance of N r as a contributor to each problem. In some cases, N r loss to the environment is the key driver of effects (e.g. terrestrial and coastal eutrophication, nitrous oxide emissions), whereas in some other situations nitrogen represents a key contributor exacerbating a wider problem (e.g. freshwater pollution, biodiversity loss). In this way, the central role of nitrogen can remain hidden, even though it actually underpins many trans-boundary pollution problems.

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