The impact of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on global forests: Negative impacts far exceed the carbon benefits

Abstract

Humans have drastically altered the nitrogen (N) cycle during the past century, enriching ecosystems from the tropics to the tundra with unpresented inputs of novel nitrogen. The study by Schulte-Uebbing et al. (2021) quantified the impact of atmospheric N deposition on C uptake by forests globally, and weighed this climate benefit against the global warming impact of N₂O emissions. A major conclusion was that the C benefits of atmospheric deposition in global forests are smaller than previously estimated (only 41 Tg C year⁻¹), accounting for only 2% of the net annual forest C uptake.

Published in

Global Change Biology
2022, Volume: 28, number: 3, pages: 690-692
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Gundale, Michael

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science
Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15959

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114423