Anthropogenic nitrogen plays a double role in climate change
Thursday, August 4, 2011 - 08:30
in Earth & Climate
Human nitrogen additions to the soil may reinforce the greenhouse effect. Nitrogen additions tend to boost plant growth, so that terrestrial ecosystems absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But recent studies have shown that they also stimulate nitrous oxide release from the fertisilied soils a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.