Scientists evaluated the effect of nitrogen on the ground
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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People, influencing the Earth's ecosystems, not only deplete its resources, but also cause warming on the planet. Another "trace", which leaves a person - nitrogen.
The only question is how the person will be affected by the abundant amount of nitrogen in the future.
In the current issue of the journal Science (December 16, 2011), scientist James Elzer outlines some recent research results on increasing free nitrogen on the Earth. Elzer shows that the disturbance of the nitrogen balance of the Earth began at the dawn of the industrial era and is further strengthened with the development of fertilizer production.
Nitrogen is a necessary element for the existence of life on Earth, an inert component of the atmosphere. For millennia, it was at a balanced level, but this balance has been violated since 1895.
Compared with the preindustrial period, the rate of nitrogen supply to global ecosystems has more than doubled. The amount of circulating phosphorus (nitrogen - the key ingredient in the fertilization of crops and other plants) increased by about 400% due to the extraction and production of fertilizers.
Signs of an overabundance of free nitrogen have appeared in all regions of the Northern Hemisphere, starting around 1895. A significant increase in nitrogen release came in 1970, which corresponds to the beginning of a massive increase in industrial nitrogen use for fertilizer production.
Effects of high nitrogen intake were not long in coming. One of the consequences of an increase in nitrogen supply can be seen in lakes, reservoirs and rivers. Nitrogen in the lakes began to be deposited in the phytoplankton (at the base of the food chain). And what consequences this can have for other animals is still unknown to scientists. All these changes reduce the quality of water in water supply systems and worsen the state of coastal marine fisheries.
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