The Effects of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity

Published in In: Sutton M., Mason K., Sheppard L., Sverdrup H., Haeuber R., Hicks W. (eds) Nitrogen Deposition, Critical Loads and Biodiversity. Springer, Dordrecht
Authors

Baron, J.S., Barber, M., Adams, M., Agboola, J.I., Allen, E.B., Bealey, W.J., Bobbink, R., Bobrovsky, M.V., Bowman, W.D., Branquinho, C., Bustamente, M.C., Clark, C.M., Cocking, E.C., Cruz, C., Davidson, E., Denmead, O.T., Dias, T., Dise, N.B., Feest, A., Galloway, J.N., Geiser, L.H., Gilliam, F.S., Harrison, I.J., Khanina, L.G., Lu, X., Manrique, E., Hueso, R.O., Ometto, J.P.H.B., Payne, R., Scheuschner, T., Sheppard, L.J., Simpson, G.L., Singh, Y.V., Stevens, C.J., Strachan, I., Sverdrup, H., Tokuchi, N., Dobben, H.V. and Woodin, S.
Publication year 2014
DOI https://doi.org/doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7939-6_49
Affiliations
  • US Geological Survey, Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA
  • RTI InternationalWashington, DC, USA
  • Faculty of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources (FAFNR), McMillan Building, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • Department of Fisheries, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria
  • Department of Botany and Plant Sciences and Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, USA
  • Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Penicuik, UK
  • B-WARE Research Centre, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science of Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia
  • Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mountain Research Station/INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
  • Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
  • Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília-DF, Brazil
  • Global Change Research Program/Environmental Protection Agency, Crystal City, USA
  • Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
  • Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
  • The Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, USA
  • CSIRO Land and WaterCanberra, Australia
  • School of Land and EnvironmentThe University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
  • Water and Environmental Management Research Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  • Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
  • Pacific Northwest Region Air Resource Management, US Forest Service, Corvallis, USA
  • Department of Biological Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, USA
  • Conservation International, Arlington, USA
  • Institute of Mathematical Problems in Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia
  • Dinghushan Forest Ecosystem Research Station, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhaoqing, China
  • Instituto de Recursos Naturales, Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
  • Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid. Spain
  • Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (CCST/INPE), São José dos Campos, Brazil
  • Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
  • OEKO-DATA, National Critical Load Focal Center, Strausberg, Germany
  • Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Penicuik, UK
  • Geography DepartmentEnvironmental Change Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
  • Indian Agricultural Research Institute, CCUBGA, IARI, New Delhi, India
  • Department of Life ScienceThe Open University, Walton Hall, UK
  • Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
  • Scottish Natural Heritage, Great Glen House, Inverness, USA
  • Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  • Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University (Yoshida North Campus), Kyoto, Japan
  • AlterraWageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands
  • IBESUniversity of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
IAI Program

CRN3
IAI Project CRN3035
Keywords
Biodiversity
Flora
Fauna
Ecosystems
Nitrogen effects
Policy

Abstract

This chapter reports the findings of a Working Group on how atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects both terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity. Regional and global scale impacts on biodiversity are addressed, together with potential indicators. Key conclusions are that: the rates of loss in biodiversity are greatest at the lowest and initial stages of N deposition increase changes in species compositions are related to the relative amounts of N, carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) in the plant soil system enhanced N inputs have implications for C cycling N deposition is known to be having adverse effects on European and North American vegetation composition very little is known about tropical ecosystem responses, while tropical ecosystems are major biodiversity hotspots and are increasingly recipients of very high N deposition rates N deposition alters forest fungi and mycorrhyzal relations with plants the rapid response of forest fungi and arthropods makes them good indicators of change predictive tools (models) that address ecosystem scale processes are necessary to address complex drivers and responses, including the integration of N deposition, climate change and land use effects criteria can be identified for projecting sensitivity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to N deposition. Future research and policy-relevant recommendations are identified.