Nitrogen is becoming less available in ecosystems around the world

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25250/thescbr.brk722

Keywords:

Nitrogen, CO2, Herbivores, Ecology

Abstract

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants and is necessary for making proteins. We gathered a diverse set of published records measuring nitrogen availability throughout history (since the 1700s) in different areas of the world. Our research suggests that humans are changing ecosystems in ways making nitrogen less available to plants and the creatures that eat them.

Author Biography

Rachel Mason, Arizona State University

Research Scientist

Original article reference

Mason, R. E., Craine, J. M., Lany, N. K., Jonard, M., Ollinger, S. v., Groffman, P. M., Fulweiler, R. W., Angerer, J., Read, Q. D., Reich, P. B., Templer, P. H., & Elmore, A. J. (2022). Evidence, causes, and consequences of declining nitrogen availability in terrestrial ecosystems. Science, 376(6590). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3767

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Published

2023-07-18

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2023): TheScienceBreaker

Section

Earth & Space

License

Some rights reserved 2023 Rachel Mason

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.