Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Carbon benefits of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen offset by nitrous oxide emissions

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 601–605 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Additions of reactive nitrogen to terrestrial ecosystems—primarily through fertilizer application and atmospheric deposition—have more than doubled since 1860 owing to human activities 1. Nitrogen additions tend to increase the net uptake of carbon by the terrestrial biosphere, but they also stimulate nitrous oxide release from soils2. However, given that the magnitude of these effects is uncertain, and that the carbon and nitrogen cycles are tightly coupled, the net climatic impact of anthropogenic nitrogen inputs is unknown 3. Here we use a process-based model of the terrestrial biosphere 4,5 to evaluate the overall impact of anthropogenic nitrogen inputs on terrestrial ecosystem carbon and nitrous oxide fluxes between 1700 and 2005. We show that anthropogenic nitrogen inputs account for about a fifth of the carbon sequestered by terrestrial ecosystems between 1996 and 2005, and for most of the increase in global nitrous oxide emissions in recent decades; the latter is largely due to agricultural intensification. We estimate that carbon sequestration due to nitrogen deposition has reduced current carbon dioxide radiative forcing by 96±14 mW m−2. However, this effect has been offset by the increase in radiative forcing resulting from nitrous oxide emissions, which amounts to 125±20 mW m−2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Simulated atmospheric CO2 and N2O concentrations (1900–2005) and growth rates (1960–2005) compared to observed concentrations and growth rates11,12,13,14,15,16.
Figure 2: Simulated net global terrestrial CO2 and N2O fluxes.
Figure 3: Latitudinal split of the 1976–2005 average terrestrial fluxes and their trends.
Figure 4: Contribution of the anthropogenic Nr and other terrestrial ecosystem changes to present-day radiative forcing.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gruber, N. & Galloway, J. N. An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle. Nature 451, 293–296 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, L. L. & Greaver, T. L. A review of nitrogen enrichment effects on three biogenic GHGs: The CO2 sink may be largely offset by stimulated N2O and CH4 emission. Ecol. Lett. 12, 1103–1117 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Galloway, J. N. et al. Transformation of the nitrogen cycle: Recent trends, questions, and potential solutions. Science 320, 889–892 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zaehle, S. & Friend, A. D. Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O–CN land surface model: 1. Model description, site-scale evaluation and sensitivity to parameter estimates. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 24, GB1005 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Zaehle, S. et al. Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O–CN land surface model: 2. The role of the nitrogen cycle in the historical terrestrial carbon balance. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 24, GB 1006 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Galloway, J. N. et al. The nitrogen cascade. Bioscience 53, 341–356 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Seitzinger, S. P. et al. Global river nutrient export: A scenario analysis of past and future trends. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 24, GB0A08 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ravishankara, A., Daniel, J. & Portmann, R. Nitrous oxide (N2O): The dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted in the twenty first century. Science 326, 123–125 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sutton, M. A. et al. Uncertainties in the relationship between atmospheric nitrogen deposition and forest carbon sequestration. Glob. Change Biol. 14, 2057–2063 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Townsend, A., Braswell, B. H., Holland, E. & Penner, J. Spatial and temporal patterns in potential terrestrial carbon storage due to deposition of fossil fuel derived nitrogen. Ecol. Appl. 6, 806–814 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Holland, E., Lee-Taylor, J., Nevison, C. D. & Sulzman, J. Global N cycle: Fluxes and N2O Mixing Ratios Originating from Human Activity (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Le Quere, C. et al. Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide. Nature Geosci. 2, 831–836 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Keeling, C. D. & Whorf, T. P. in Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  14. MacFarling Meure, C. et al. Law Dome CO2, CH4 and N2O ice core records extended to 2000 years BP. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L14810 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Prinn, R. G. et al. A history of chemically and radiatively important gases in air deduced from ALE/GAGE/AGAGE. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 751–792 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Nevison, C. D., Mahowald, N. M., Weiss, R. F. & Prinn, R. G. Interannual and seasonal variability in atmospheric N2O. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 21, GB3017 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. House, J. I. et al. Reconciling apparent inconsistencies in estimates of terrestrial CO2 sources and sinks. Tellus 55, 345–363 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Davidson, E. A. The contribution of manure and fertilizer nitrogen to atmospheric nitrous oxide since 1860. Nature Geosci. 2, 659–662 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Syakila, A. & Kroeze, C. The global nitrous oxide budget revisited. Greenhouse Gas Meas. Manag. 1, 17–26 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Aber, J. et al. Nitrogen saturation in temperate forest ecosystems—Hypotheses revisited. Bioscience 48, 921–934 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sitch, S., Cox, P. M., Collins, W. J. & Huntingford, C. Indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effects on the land-carbon sink. Nature 448, 791–794 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hirsch, A. I. et al. Inverse modeling estimates of the global nitrous oxide surface flux from 1998–2001. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 20, GB1008 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Olivier, J. G. J., Bouwman, A. F., Hoek, K. W. V. d. & Berdowski, J. J. M. Global air emission inventories for anthropogenic sources of NOx, NH3 and N2O in 1990. Environ. Pollut. 102, 135–148 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ramaswamy, V. et al. in IPCC Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (eds Houghton, J. T. et al.) 351–416 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Shindell, D. T et al. Improved attribution of climate forcing to emissions. Science 326, 716–718 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Lamarque, J. F. et al. Assessing future nitrogen deposition and carbon cycle feedback using a multimodel approach: Analysis of nitrogen deposition. J. Geophys. Res. 110, D19303 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Alcamo, J., Van Vuuren, D. & Cramer, W. in Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Scenarios Vol. 2 (eds Carpenter, S., Pingali, P., Bennett, E. M. & Zurek, M.) (Island, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Canfield, D. E., Glazer, A. N. & Falkowski, P. G. The evolution and future of earth’s nitrogen cycle. Science 330, 192–196 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Krinner, G. et al. A dynamic global vegetation model for studies of the coupled atmosphere-biosphere system. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 19, GB1015 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Denman, K. L. et al. in IPCC Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (eds Solomon, S. et al.) 511–539 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Marie Curie Reintegration Grant JULIA (PERG02-GA-2007-224775) and the Max Planck Society through the ENIGMA project. We thank F. Dentener and G. Hurtt for providing the nitrogen deposition and land-cover change data, respectively. S.Z. and A.D.F. are supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 238366.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Biogeochemical Systems, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

    Sönke Zaehle

  2. LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA/CNRS/UVSQ, 91191 Gif/Yvette Cedex, France

    Philippe Ciais & Vincent Prieur

  3. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK

    Andrew D. Friend

Authors
  1. Sönke Zaehle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philippe Ciais
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew D. Friend
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vincent Prieur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

S.Z. developed the model, designed and carried out the experiments and performed the analyses. V.P. and A.D.F. helped during the development of the model. All co-authors substantially contributed to interpreting the results and writing the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sönke Zaehle.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 618 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zaehle, S., Ciais, P., Friend, A. et al. Carbon benefits of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen offset by nitrous oxide emissions. Nature Geosci 4, 601–605 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1207

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1207

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology