Human actions – mostly burning of biomass and fossil fuels – have dramatically altered the global nitrogen cycle, affecting natural habitats and contributing to acid rain.
The study warns that many decades of experimental work have left us with a skewed understanding of the effects of nitrogen pollution, and this could hamper responses to global change.
Professor Dan Bebber, from the University of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, writing in the journal Science of the Total Environment, says scientific experiments have been “unrealistic”. They often involve simulations of nitrogen deposition far higher than those experienced even in heavily polluted regions, in fact they are similar to mineral fertilizer applications in agriculture.
Professor Bebber said: “Despite decades of research, past experiments can tell us little about how the biosphere has responded to anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. A new approach is required to improve our understanding of this important phenomenon.”
Read more at University of Exeter
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