Reduced nitrogen in ecology and the environment

Since the beginning of the 19th century humans have increasingly fixed atmospheric nitrogen as ammonia to be used as fertilizer. The fertilizers are necessary to create amino acids and carbohydrates in plants to feed animals and humans. The efficiency with which the fertilizers eventually reach humans is very small: 5-15%, with much of the remainder lost to the environment. The global industrial production of ammonia amounts to 117 Mton NH(3)-Nyear(-1) (for 2004). By comparison, we calculate that anthropogenic emissions of NH(3) to the atmosphere over the lifecycle of industrial NH(3) in agriculture are 45.3 Mton NH(3)-Nyear(-1), about half the industrial production. Once emitted ammonia has a central role in many environmental issues. We expect an increase in fertilizer use through increasing demands for food and biofuels as population increases. Therefore, management of ammonia or abatement is necessary.     

Population, development and the environment: Programme of Action adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development

The world community faces a major challenge in addressing the implications of rapid global population growth. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development responded by reaffirming that population growth, development and the environment are closely interrelated. It adopted a Programme of Action, which goes beyond the traditional exclusive focus on demographics, and places population issues in the context of women's empowerment, sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and rejects coercion in population policies and programmes. The Programme of Action calls upon states to establish and implement national policies and plans of action to address population and development issues. It also underscores the need for increased international cooperation to achieve the objectives and goals set out in the Programme of Action.     

Slow-release nitrogen fertilizers enhance growth,yield, NUE in wheat crop and reduce nitrogen losses under an arid environment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Higher demands of food led to higher nitrogen application to promote cropping intensification and produce more which may have negative effects on the...     

Nitrogen footprints: Regional realities and options to reduce nitrogen loss to the environment

Ambio - Nitrogen (N) management presents a sustainability dilemma: N is strongly linked to energy and food production, but excess reactive N causes environmental pollution. The N footprint is an...     

Reduced survival and body size in the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber from a metal-polluted environment

Terrestrial isopods (woodlice) may show trade-offs in life history parameters when exposed to toxins. We have shown previously [Jones and Hopkin (1996) Functional Ecology 10, 741-750] that woodlice which survive to reproduce in sites heavily polluted with metals from an industrial smelting works do not alter their reproductive allocation. This study investigates whether there are differences in the survival and body size of Porcellio scaber from these same populations. Specimens were collected from eight sites at different distances from the Avonmouth smelter, UK. The sites represented a gradient of concentrations of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in the woodlice, from background levels to a grossly contaminated sites close to the smelter. In laboratory trials, the number of days survived by starved males showed a significant decline with increased concentrations of Zn in those animals. The maximum size of both sexes declined significantly from the least to the most polluted sites. The most polluted sites had significantly fewer large animals. The cost of detoxifying assimilated metals appears to be reduced energy reserves and smaller body size.     

苏州市各功能区水环境中碳氮磷分布特征与污染评价

为了解苏州市水环境中营养元素的时空分布特征及潜在生态风险,于苏州市城区、城郊和郊区共设置16个采样点,并对全年水样和沉积物样进行各形态碳、氮、磷含量的测定。结果表明:(1)时间尺度上,水体中春季溶解性有机质(DOC)极显著低于秋、冬季,TN季节性差异不显著,春、夏季TP极显著高于秋、冬季。沉积物中总有机碳(TOC)、TN和TP均在冬季最高、春季最低。(2)空间尺度上,水体中城区TP高于城郊和郊区。沉积物中TOC、TP均呈现城区郊区城郊的分布特征。(3)水体富营养化评价综合指数表明,1个采样点为极富营养级,11个为重富营养级,4个为富营养级,春、夏两季富营养化风险高。(4)苏州市整体有机氮污染较严重,城区沉积物中生物有效性磷最高,对上覆水的磷释放风险最高。(5)相关性分析表明,沉积物中TP、无机磷和铁铝磷来源可能相同。     

The United Kingdom Acid Waters Monitoring Network: a review of the first 15 years and introduction to the special issue

The United Kingdom Acid Waters Monitoring Network (AWMN) was established in 1988 to determine the ecological impact of acidic emissions control policy on acid-sensitive lakes and streams. AWMN data have been used to explore a range of causal linkages necessary to connect changes in emissions to chemical and, ultimately, biological recovery. Regional scale reductions in sulphur (S) deposition have been found to have had an immediate influence on surface water chemistry, including increases in acid neutralising capacity, pH and alkalinity and declines in aluminium toxicity. These in turn can be linked to changes in the aquatic biota which are consistent with "recovery" responses. A continuation of the current programme is essential in order to better understand apparent non-linearity between nitrogen (N) in deposition and runoff, the substantial rise in organic acid concentrations, and the likely impacts of forecast climate change and other potential constraints on further biological improvement.     

Chloroform in the environment: occurrence,sources, sinks and effects

The chloroform flux through the environment is apparently constant at some 660±220 Gg yr⁻¹ (±1σ) and about 90% of the emissions are natural in origin: the largest single source being in offshore sea water (contributing 360±90 Gg yr⁻¹), with soil processes the next most important (220±100 Gg yr⁻¹). Other natural sources, mainly volcanic and geological, account for less than 20 Gg yr⁻¹. The non-natural sources total 66±23 Gg yr⁻¹ and are much better characterised than the natural sources. They are predominantly the result of using strong oxidising agent on organic material in the presence of chloride ion, a direct parallel with the natural processes occurring in soils.

Chloroform partitions preferentially into the atmosphere; the equilibrium distribution is greater than 99% and the average global atmospheric concentration has been calculated to be 18.5 pmol mol⁻¹. Atmospheric oxidation, the principal removal process, is approximately in balance with the identified source fluxes. Chloroform is widely dispersed in the aquatic environment (even naturally present in some mineral waters). Consequently, it is also widely dispersed in the tissue of living creatures and in foodstuffs but there is little evidence of bioaccumulation and the quantities in foodstuffs and drinking water are not problematical for human ingestion at the highest concentrations found. Definitive studies have shown that current environmental concentrations of chloroform do not present an ecotoxicological risk, even to fish at the embryonic and larval stages when they are most susceptible.

By virtue of the very small amounts that actually become transported to the stratosphere, chloroform does not deplete ozone materially, nor is it a photochemically active volatile organic compound (VOC). It has a global warming potential that is less than that of the photochemically active VOCs and is not classed as a greenhouse gas.     

Hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls in the environment: sources,fate, and toxicities

Hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OH-PCBs) are produced in the environment by the oxidation of PCBs through a variety of mechanisms, including metabolic transformation in living organisms and abiotic reactions with hydroxyl radicals. As a consequence, OH-PCBs have been detected in a wide range of environmental samples, including animal tissues, water, and sediments. OH-PCBs have recently raised serious environmental concerns because they exert a variety of toxic effects at lower doses than the parent PCBs and they are disruptors of the endocrine system. Although evidence about the widespread dispersion of OH-PCBs in various compartments of the ecosystem has accumulated, little is currently known about their biodegradation and behavior in the environment. OH-PCBs are, today, increasingly considered as a new class of environmental contaminants that possess specific chemical, physical, and biological properties not shared with the parent PCBs. This article reviews recent findings regarding the sources, fate, and toxicities of OH-PCBs in the environment.     

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in south-east Scotland: Quantification of the organic nitrogen fraction in wet,dry and bulk deposition

Water soluble organic nitrogen (WSON) compounds are ubiquitous in precipitation and in the planetary boundary layer, and therefore are a potential source of bioavailable reactive nitrogen. This paper examines weekly rain data over a period of 22 months from June 2005 to March 2007 collected in 2 types of rain collector (bulk deposition and “dry + wet” deposition) located in a semi-rural area 15 km southwest of Edinburgh, UK (N55°51′44″, W3°12′19″). Bulk deposition collectors are denoted in this paper as “standard rain gauges”, and they are the design used in the UK national network for monitoring precipitation composition. “Dry + wet” deposition collectors are flushing rain gauges and they are equipped with a rain detector (conductivity array), a spray nozzle, a 2-way valve and two independent bottles to collect funnel washings (dry deposition) and true wet deposition. On average, for the 27 weekly samples with 3 valid replicates for the 2 types of collectors, dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) represented 23% of the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) in bulk deposition. Dry deposition of particles and gas on the funnel surface, rather than rain, contributed over half of all N-containing species (inorganic and organic). Some discrepancies were found between bulk rain gauges and flushing rain gauges, for deposition of both TDN and DON, suggesting biological conversion and loss of inorganic N in the flushing samplers.     

氧环境改变对陆基循环水养殖鱼粪碳、氮、磷释放特征及细菌群落的影响

为探究氧环境改变对陆基循环水养殖系统（RAS)中鲈鱼粪氮(N)、磷(P)、溶解性有机质(DOM)释放特征及鱼粪细菌群落多样性的影响,采用室内模拟的方法,分析氧环境(好氧、厌氧)改变对鱼粪及其上覆水理化性质及鱼粪细菌群落特征的影响,并揭示其间的相关关系。结果表明,第1~16天,厌氧处理上覆水中NH₄⁺-N、TP、COD和TOC质量浓度明显高于好氧处理,在第16~33 天,NH₄⁺-N质量浓度持续增加、TP质量浓度低于好氧处理组、COD和TOC质量浓度降低但仍高于好氧处理。三维荧光光谱表明,氧环境改变下上覆水DOM主要成分是蛋白质、腐殖质类物质,但厌氧条件下各组分含量均较高。细菌群落分析表明,不同处理鱼粪细菌群落相对丰度存在差异,优势菌门为Proteobacteria、Firmicutes、Actinobacteria、Bacteroidetes、Chloroflexi,相对丰度均大于5%;厌氧处理组优势菌属为Acinetobacter、Clostridium_sensu_stricto_13、Propioniciclava、Ornithinibacter,好氧处理组优势菌属为Acinetobacte、Kurthia、Comamonas、Propioniciclava。细菌群落聚类特征与环境因子相关性表明,随反应时间增加,氧环境改变下细菌群落结构趋于相似;厌氧处理下DOM(C1、C2、C4)、反应时间、COD、TOC、鱼粪TN、鱼粪TP、NO₃⁻-N是影响细菌属的关键环境因子,好氧处理下仅有部分细菌属与反应时间、EC、DOM(C1、C2、C4)、NH₄⁺-N具有显著相关性(P<0.05)。厌氧处理能够显著影响鱼粪及上覆水的理化性质,促进氮、磷及有机质释放,并在一定程度上影响细菌群落结构和多样性,其次是好氧处理。     

Landscape ecology of the Guanting Reservoir, Beijing, China: multivariate and geostatistical analyses of metals in soils

Surface soil samples were collected from 52 sites around Guanting Reservoir in Beijing, China, and contents of 'total' metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, As, Ni and Cr) were determined. The results indicate that the degree of heavy metal pollution in the soils declines in the order of Cd>Cr>Zn>As>Cu>Ni>Pb. Based on the results of a combination of multivariate statistics and geostatiscal analyses, it was concluded that land application of phosphate fertilizer, wastewater and sludge were the primary sources of Cd and Zn in soils. Whereas As, Cu, Cr and Ni in some soils were due to natural rock weathering. The sources of Pb in soils only partially originated from land application of phosphate fertilizer, but mainly from vehicle exhaust. The greatest concentrations of all metals, except for Pb, were found in Huailai County and the towns of Yanghedaqiao and Guanting.