Dataset Information

The Warming Climate Aggravates Atmospheric Nitrogen Pollution in Australia.

ABSTRACT: Australia is a warm country with well-developed agriculture and a highly urbanized population. How these specific features impact the nitrogen cycle, emissions, and consequently affect environmental and human health is not well understood. Here, we find that the ratio of reactive nitrogen (N _r ) losses to air over losses to water in Australia is 1.6 as compared to values less than 1.1 in the USA, the European Union, and China. Australian N _r emissions to air increased by more than 70% between 1961 and 2013, from 1.2 Tg N yr^-1 to 2.1 Tg N yr^-1. Previous emissions were substantially underestimated mainly due to neglecting the warming climate. The estimated health cost from atmospheric N _r emissions in Australia is 4.6 billion US dollars per year. Emissions of N _r to the environment are closely correlated with economic growth, and reduction of N _r losses to air is a priority for sustainable development in Australia.

SUBMITTER: Sun Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8254137 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Warming Climate Aggravates Atmospheric Nitrogen Pollution in Australia.

Sun Yi Y Gu Baojing B van Grinsven Hans J M HJM Reis Stefan S Lam Shu Kee SK Zhang Xiuying X Chen Youfan Y Zhou Feng F Zhang Lin L Wang Rong R Chen Deli D Xu Jianming J

Research (Washington, D.C.) 20210607

Australia is a warm country with well-developed agriculture and a highly urbanized population. How these specific features impact the nitrogen cycle, emissions, and consequently affect environmental and human health is not well understood. Here, we find that the ratio of reactive nitrogen (N r ) losses to air over losses to water in Australia is 1.6 as compared to values less than 1.1 in the USA, the European Union, and China. Australian N r emis ...[more]

PMID: 34268496

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Project description:Forest understory plant communities in the United States harbor most of the vegetation diversity of forests and are often sensitive to changes in climate and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N). As temperature increases from human-caused climate change and soils recover from long term atmospheric deposition of N and sulfur (S), it is unclear how these important ecosystem components will respond. We used the newly developed US-PROPS model - based on species response functions for over 1,500 species - to evaluate the potential impacts of atmospheric N deposition and climate change on species occurrence probability for a case study in the forested ecosystems of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), an iconic park in the southeastern United States. We evaluated six future scenarios from various combinations of two potential recoveries of soil pH (no change, +0.5 pH units) and three climate futures (no change, +1.5, +3.0 deg C). Species critical loads (CLs) of N deposition and projected responses for each scenario were determined. Critical loads were estimated to be low (< 2 kg N/ha/yr) to protect all species under current and expected future conditions across broad regions of GRSM and these CLs were exceeded at large spatial extents among scenarios. Northern hardwood, yellow pine, and chestnut oak forests were among the most N-sensitive vegetation map classes found within GRSM. Potential future air temperature conditions generally led to decreases in the maximum occurrence probability for species. Therefore, CLs were considered "unattainable" in these situations because the specified level of protection used for CL determination (i.e., maximum occurrence probability under ambient conditions) was not attainable. Although some species showed decreases in maximum occurrence probability with simulated increases in soil pH, most species were favored by increased pH. The importance of our study is rooted in the methodology described here for establishing regional CLs and for evaluating future conditions, which is transferable to other national parks in the U.S. and in Europe where the original PROPS model was developed.

Dataset Information

The Warming Climate Aggravates Atmospheric Nitrogen Pollution in Australia.

Publications

The Warming Climate Aggravates Atmospheric Nitrogen Pollution in Australia.

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