Editor's Summary
14 June 2007
Forests in the balance
A study of forest ecosystems from across western Europe and the United States has settled a long-running controversy — and raised many new questions. At issue is the influence of nitrogen deposition on the global carbon cycle, particularly the part played by human activity. The new study demonstrates that via the direct effects of forest management and indirectly via the use of nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen oxide production by cars and industry, human activities have had a profound and largely positive effect on the carbon balance or net ecosystem production. (That's the balance between ecosystem carbon fixation through photosynthesis and its subsequent release through plant and soil respiration.) The implications of these findings for practical questions such as the merits of fertilizing forests with nitrogen, are considered in the accompanying News and Views by Peter Högberg.
News and Views: Environmental science: Nitrogen impacts on forest carbon
Does the extra nitrogen input from anthropogenic sources mean that more carbon from the atmosphere is being locked up in boreal and temperate forests? 'Yes' is the answer to emerge from the latest analysis.
Peter Högberg
doi:10.1038/447781a
Letter: The human footprint in the carbon cycle of temperate and boreal forests
Federico Magnani, Maurizio Mencuccini, Marco Borghetti, Paul Berbigier, Frank Berninger, Sylvain Delzon, Achim Grelle, Pertti Hari, Paul G. Jarvis, Pasi Kolari, Andrew S. Kowalski, Harry Lankreijer, Beverly E. Law, Anders Lindroth, Denis Loustau, Giovanni Manca, John B. Moncrieff, Mark Rayment, Vanessa Tedeschi, Riccardo Valentini & John Grace
doi:10.1038/nature05847
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (310K) | Supplementary information