Nitrogen hotspots pose global pollution threat to plants
Posted on 5 April 2006
Nitrogen from human activities - such as fossil fuel burning and livestock farming - has become a potential threat to a high proportion of the world's valuable plant species according to researchers at the Universities of Sheffield and York. The gases released into the atmosphere fall back down to earth as atmospheric nitrogen deposition. This can harm ecosystems and has resulted in the loss of species from sensitive ecosystems in Europe.
An international research team led by scientists at the Stockholm
Environment Institute (SEI), at the University of York, and the
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield,
have looked at atmospheric nitrogen inputs to 34 plant biodiversity
hotspots identified by Conservation International, to which half of the
world's plant species are restricted (they are 'endemic' and occur no
where else in the world). They used a combination of emissions
predictions and atmospheric chemistry models to estimate current
nitrogen deposition and likely changes over the next half-century.
Using computer modelling, the researchers discovered that some of
the global hotspots already receive potentially damaging amounts of
nitrogen deposition. With the anticipated global increase in nitrogen
emissions by 2050, all but one of the 34 will see an increase in their
deposition, with the average total more than doubling.
Understanding the impacts of nitrogen deposition in hotspots is, therefore, a priority for future research
Dr Kevin Hicks
Half the hotspots will receive more nitrogen deposition than amounts
that can typically damage sensitive ecosystems in Europe. The most
polluted location - the tropical Western Ghats and Sri Lanka - is
predicted to receive an average pollution load that is double the
current average for the UK. The Mountains of Southwest China and
Indo-Burma are also among the areas predicted to receive significantly
elevated levels of nitrogen pollution by 2050, along with three areas
of the world with some of the highest numbers of species as endemics,
the Tropical Andes, the Atlantic Forest and the Mediterranean Basin.
Dr Gareth Phoenix, of the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at
the University of Sheffield, said: "Until recently, scientists have
focused on the threat of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Europe and
North America - partially since these were the first areas of the world
to receive high levels of this pollutant. However, our work shows that
atmospheric nitrogen deposition is becoming a global threat."
This coincidence of high levels of atmospheric nitrogen deposition with
areas of particularly high plant diversity may significantly increase
the threat to plant biodiversity over the coming century. Dr Kevin
Hicks, at the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of
York, said: "Scientists know very little about the sensitivity of the
hotspot ecosystems to nitrogen deposition, so accurate estimates of the
amount of likely species loss are not possible. Understanding the
impacts of nitrogen deposition in hotspots is, therefore, a priority
for future research."
Notes to editors:
- Original paper published in Global Change Biology (2006)
12, 470-476. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in world biodiversity
hotspots: the need for a greater global perspective in assessing N
deposition impacts. Copies are available upon request.
- This work evolved out of the Global Nitrogen Enrichment project
workshop in 2001, which was funded by the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC).
- NERC delivers independent research, survey, training and knowledge
transfer in the environmental sciences. Their work covers the full
range of atmospheric, earth, biological, terrestrial and aquatic
sciences, from the deep oceans to the upper atmosphere, and from the
poles to the equator. Their mission is to gather and apply knowledge,
create understanding and predict the behaviour of the natural
environment and its resources, and communicate all aspects of their
work. www.nerc.ac.uk/
- The GANE thematic programme aims to study the problems arising
from nitrogen enrichment of our environment. Further information is
available at gane.ceh.ac.uk/
- The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
at York is one of the constituent centres of the Stockholm Environment
Institute, an independent, international research organisation
committed to the implementation of practices supportive of global
sustainable development. SEI conducts a comprehensive research,
consulting and training programme which focuses on the links between
the ecological, social and economic systems at global, regional and
national and local levels.
- The University of Sheffield
is one of the UK's leading and largest universities, and a member of
the Russell Group. It has over 24,000 students from 118 countries. With
its reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across
a wide range of disciplines, it has well-established partnerships with
a number of universities both in the UK and abroad, as well as with
many leading UK and global companies.
- The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is one of the UK's
eight research councils. It uses a budget of about £350m a year to fund
and carry out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the
environment. NERC trains the next generation of independent
environmental scientists. It is addressing some of the key issues
facing mankind such as global warming, renewable energy and sustainable
economic development.