Woods Hole Research Center

The objectives of our nitrogen projects are to advance scientific understanding of human alteration of the nitrogen cycle, and to frame that scientific knowledge as policy-relevant, synthetic analyses that transcend traditional disciplinary and regulatory boundaries.

North American Center of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI)

The Woods Hole Research Center hosts the North American Nitrogen Center (NANC) [http://nitrogennorthamerica.org] of the International Nitrogen Initiative [http://initrogen.org]. Eric Davidson serves as the North American Coordinator for the INI. One of the projects of the NANC is a Research Coordination Network on Reactive Nitrogen, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Research Coordination Network on Reactive Nitrogen.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a 5-year project, beginning March 2011, to create a network of researchers who specialize in a wide range of disciplines pertaining to excess nitrogen in the environment, including aquatic and terrestrial ecology, agronomy, atmospheric chemistry, groundwater dynamics, engineering, epidemiology, and economics. We are partnering with Resource Media, which has created Nitrogen News [http://www.nitrogennews.com] as part of a project supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Nitrogen News was created as a resource for journalists and bloggers covering nitrogen science and management policy.

Demand for nitrogen fertilizers is increasing, but unfortunately crops use only about half of the applied nitrogen – the rest is unintentionally released to groundwater, rivers, and to the air, where it presents problems for human health and ecosystem health. Burning fossil fuels for industry and transportation also releases nitrogen into the air, which falls on soils and water bodies.

The objective of this research coordination network is to engage a community of researchers from many disciplines, including atmospheric chemistry, agronomy, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, social science, and human and wildlife health, who individually study aspects of this issue, but whose collective, inter-disciplinary synthesis is needed to define integrative potential solutions.

A series of workshops will be convened on topics such as impacts of excess nitrogen on climate, air pollution, water pollution, and agricultural production. Framing the scientific issues of excess nitrogen in the environment in a context relevant to human and ecosystem health will increase understanding for both scientific and non-scientific audiences of the extent of the health and pollution problems associated with excess nitrogen, as well as options and trade-offs for finding solutions.

PI: Eric A. Davidson, The Woods Hole Research Center

Steering committee members: Jill Baron, USGS; Mark David, University of Illinois; Richard Haeuber, EPA; Robert Howarth, Cornell University; Richard Lowrance, USDA-ARS; Jennifer Peel, Colorado State University; Ellen Porter, US National Park Service; Richard Pouyat, USDA-FS; Clifford Snyder, International Plant Nutrition Inst., Penelope Whitney, Resource Media

The Reactive Nitrogen Research Coordination Network carried out the following activities in 2011:

1. A workshop on “Climate-Nitrogen Interactions in the USA” was held at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis in 2011. The objective was to develop a technical report on the cross-cutting issue of nitrogen-climate interactions in response to a request for such reports from the Development Advisory Committee of the National Climate Assessment (DAC-NCA). A timely synthesis of nitrogen-climate interactions will provide input for The National Climate Assessment (NCA) to be completed by the US Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) by 2013. In addition to a report submitted to the DAC-NCA, we anticipate that a version of the report will be published as peer-reviewed papers, and that an executive summary for policy makers would also be published in an appropriate venue.

Since the workshop, the technical report has been completed and submitted to the NCA on March 1, 2012. A poster describing that report was presented at the Planet Under Pressure conference in London on March 26, 2012, and can be viewed here. The chapters of the technical report are being submitted to a peer-review journal for subsequent publication.

2. A symposium entitled “Implications of Nitrogen-Climate Interactions for Ecosystem Processes and Services” was convened at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in 2011. The co-conveners were the PIs of this project, Eric Davidson and Dr. Chuck Rice, Kansas State University. The symposium was also co-sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America. The following oral presentations were made, which correspond to the six chapters of the NCA report:

• B42C-01. Climate Change Impacts of US Reactive Nitrogen Emissions (Invited) R.W. Pinder; E.A. Davidson; C.L. Goodale; T. Greaver; J. Herrick; L. Liu
• B42C-02. Interactive Effects of Nitrogen and Climate Change on Biodiversity (Invited) E.M. Porter; W.D. Bowman; C.M. Clark; J.E. Compton; L.H. Pardo; J. Soong
• B42C-03. Interactive effects of reactive nitrogen and climate change on US water resources J. Baron; E.S. Bernhardt; J.C. Finlay; F. Chan; B.T. Nolan; B. Howarth; E. Hall; E.W. Boyer
• B42C-04. Implications of Nitrogen-Climate Interactions for Ambient Air Pollution and Human Health R. Haeuber; J.L. Peel; V. Garcia; L. Neas; A.G. Russell
• B42C-05. Interactions of U.S. Agricultural Production with Climatic Stresses and Reactive Nitrogen R.J. Gehl; G.P. Robertson; T.W. Bruulsema; D. Kanter; D.L. Mauzerall; C.A. Rotz; C.O. Williams
• B42C-06. Nitrogen use efficiency in the US economy: Towards mitigation of climate change impacts (Invited) B.Z. Houlton; E.W. Boyer; A.C. Finzi; J.N. Galloway; A. Leach; D. Liptzin; J.M. Melillo; T. Rosenstock; D.J. Sobota; A.R. Townsend

Two additional papers rounded out the oral session, followed by a poster session, which was held the next day.

3. A publication resulting from the Denitrification-RCN workshop held in Boulder CO in May 2010 has been finalized by the PIs and staff of this project. The topic is germane to both RCNs and serves as a peer-reviewed citation for some of the material in the NCA report. It was published as the winter edition of the Ecological Society of America’s Issues in Ecology, volume 15.

A workshop focusing on the impacts of excess nitrogen in the environment, with an emphasis on human health impacts, is being planned for November 14-15 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. The organizing committee includes Mary Ward, Jean Bender, Jennifer Peel, B. Thomas Nolan, Rob Pinder, Alan Townsend, Emma Suddick, and Eric Davidson.

Still relevant to today’s work is a 2007 report prepared jointly by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), with significant contributions from the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). This was a non-technical report on reactive nitrogen in the environment, summarizing the present scientific understanding of the major issues surrounding reactive nitrogen, and discussing the overarching environmental, human health, and economic issues created by both excesses and deficiencies. The report also provides case studies of effective policy implementation and reviews emerging policies to show how negative impacts associated with reactive nitrogen may be successfully addressed locally, nationally, and regionally, given similar challenges, shared experiences, and effective solutions.