Food production is becoming less efficient at using nitrogen fertilizer, according to a review of global values. Excess nitrogen damages the environment and the climate.
nutrients
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Roadside Ditches Are Effective at Nitrogen Removal
Researchers compared the nitrogen removal potential by microbes in ditches that drained forested, urban, and agricultural lands and discovered that roadside ditches are important areas for removing nutrients.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Gulf Stream Intrusions Feed Diatom Hot Spots
Previous research suggested that the intrusion of low-nutrient Gulf Stream water into the Mid-Atlantic Bight would reduce productivity, but a new study finds that it can also lead to chlorophyll hot spots.
Posted inNews
The Chaos Beneath a Glacier’s Calving Front
For the first time, researchers have captured continuous data on the abrupt changes and activities happening at a glacier’s calving front.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Well-Balanced Ecosystem Uses Water Most Efficiently
Excess of a single nutrient, such as nitrogen, may boost plant productivity, but the imbalance leads to less efficient water use as plants scramble for the nutrients they lack.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Tracking Excess Nitrogen with Freshwater Mussels
Mussel shell periostracum and carbonate bound organic matter document seasonal variability in the isotopic composition of riverine suspended particulate organic matter.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Why Rivers Need Their Floodplains
Floodplain storage of water, nutrients, and sediment is critical to sustaining river ecosystems but has been reduced by human activities.
Posted inOpinions
Our Losing Phosphate Wager
Global food systems depend on fertilizers with phosphate. We need to act now before this nonrenewable resource runs out.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Chemical-Shuttling Bacteria Follow Earth’s Magnetic Field
Magnetotactic bacteria shunt sulfur, nitrogen, and other important elements between oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich waters.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Long Does Iron Linger in the Ocean’s Upper Layers?
A new study refines our understanding of marine residence times of iron, which supports carbon-sequestering sea life, offering valuable data to inform biogeochemical models.