Letter abstract
Nature Geoscience 1, 111 - 112 (2008)
Published online: 20 January 2008 | doi:10.1038/ngeo108
Subject Categories: Biogeochemistry | Ecology
Nitrogen transfer from sea to land via commercial fisheries
R. Maranger1, N. Caraco2, J. Duhamel1 & M. Amyot1
Human activity has dramatically altered global nitrogen fluxes, nearly doubling the nitrogen export from land to coast1. Fertilizer run-off accounts for much of this increase2, 3. The role of commercial fisheries in altering fish stocks has been explored4, 5, 6, but their effect on the return of nitrogen from coastal oceans to land is less well known. Here we quantify the nitrogen return to land via fisheries and compare it with nitrogen fertilizer inputs into the coastal ocean regionally and over time. We find that both fertilizer run-off into the ocean and fishery removal of nitrogen have increased over the past four decades, but the increase in nitrogen input has been faster. Although our estimate for the ratio of nitrogen return to nitrogen input has therefore decreased over time from about 60% in 1960 to about 20% in 2000, we conclude that fishery harvest is a significant, and currently underappreciated, aspect of anthropogenic nitrogen flux in many coastal regions.
- Université de Montréal, Département des sciences biologiques, CP 6128 succ. Centre- Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Institute of Ecosystem Studies, PO Box AB, Millbrook, New York 12545, USA
Correspondence to: R. Maranger1 e-mail: r.maranger@umontreal.ca
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