Editor's Summary

7 February 2008

Recovery from N deposition

The use of nitrogen fertilizers and fossil fuel burning is causing nitrogen deposition in industrialized countries at up to seven times the pre-industrial rate. A long-term (23-year) study of prairie grasslands in Minnesota now suggests that the effects of such extended nitrogen deposition have been underestimated. Chronic low-level nitrogen addition led to a gradual loss of plant species diversity, but diversity had recovered 13 years after nitrogen addition had ceased, suggesting that some of the harmful effects of past deposition are reversed by reductions in the rate of deposition.

Letter: Loss of plant species after chronic low-level nitrogen deposition to prairie grasslands

Christopher M. Clark & David Tilman

doi:10.1038/nature06503

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (277K) | Supplementary information