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Nitrogen Pollution Changing Rocky Mountain National Park Vegetation, Says CU-Boulder Study

By Guest PostJuly 8, 2012Environmentacidified soils, agriculture, alpine meadow, alpine vegetation, Arctic, atmospheric nitrogen pollution, automobiles, biodiversity, boulder, chapin pass, colorado, denver area, ellen porter, front range, isabel ashton, john murgel, mummy range, national park, nitrogen deposition, nitrogen emission, nitrogen pollution, niwot ridge, power plants, rocky mountain, soil acidification, stream organism, tamara blett, trout, university of colorado, vascular plant, vegetation, william bowman

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder indicates air pollution in the form of nitrogen compounds emanating from power plants, automobiles and agriculture is changing the alpine vegetation in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The emissions of nitrogen compounds to the atmosphere are being carried to remote areas of the park, altering sensitive ecosystems, said CU-Boulder Professor William Bowman, who directs CU-Boulder’s Mountain Research Station west of Boulder and who led the study. “The changes are subtle, but important,” he said. “They represent a first step in a series of changes which may be relatively irreversible.”

In other regions of the world, higher amounts of nitrogen pollutants correlate with decreased biodiversity, acidified soils and dead stream organisms like trout, said Bowman. “There is evidence that indicates once these changes occur, they can be difficult if not impossible to reverse. It is best to recognize these early stages before the more harmful later stages happen.” (more…)

Mather Lecture

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Environmentatmosphere, atmospheric moisture, biodiversity, charles j vörösmarty, China, climate change, computer model, cort willmott, deforestation, Europe, geospatial data, global water crisis, hydrology, India, industrializing place, john r mather, mather lecture, nancy targett, natural water systems, nitrogen pollution, noaa, river, sandra mather, stress, thermal regime, united states, university of delaware, water cycle, water management

Renowned expert Charles J. Vörösmarty addresses global water crisis

The world’s streams, rivers and lakes are under increasing stress because of human water management – and mismanagement – that threaten aquatic biodiversity and the water supply, Charles J. Vörösmarty said recently during the second annual John R. Mather Visiting Scholars Lecture.

Vörösmarty, professor of civil engineering with the City College of New York, presented “Global Water Crisis: The Slippery Slope” on May 3 at the University of Delaware’s Roselle Center for the Arts.

“The contemporary water system is really defined increasingly by the actions of humans,” he said. (more…)

Nitrogen From Humans Pollutes Remote Lakes For More Than A Century

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2012Environmentacid rain, agricultural fertilizers, alexander wolfe, Anthropocene, aquatic archeology, atmosphere, atmospheric currents, biologically active nitrogen, bottom deposits, carbon, chemical composition, chemical signals, climate, daniel schindler, double whammy, earth, effects of pollution, excess nitrogen, fertilizer use, fingerprint, global biogeochemical cycles, gordon holtgrieve, high lake, historical changes, human activities, human derived nitrogen, journal science, lakes, natural sources of nitrogen, new geological era, nitrogen, nitrogen characteristics of lake sediments, nitrogen cycle, nitrogen pollution, northern europe, northern hemisphere, peter leavitt, planetary scale changes, remote ecosystems, smog, southwest alaska, statistical models, university of Alberta, university of washington, us rocky mountains, vital nutrient for life, water pollution

Nitrogen derived from human activities has polluted lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere for more than a century and the fingerprint of these changes is evident even in remote lakes located thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm.

The findings, published in the journal Science Dec. 16, are based on historical changes in the chemical composition of bottom deposits in 36 lakes using an approach similar to aquatic archeology. More than three quarters of the lakes, ranging from the U.S. Rocky Mountains to northern Europe, showed a distinctive signal of nitrogen released from human activities before the start of the 20^th century, said Gordon Holtgrieve, a postdoctoral researcher at University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and lead author of the report. The UW and a dozen other research institutions contributed to the research. (more…)

Tag Archives: nitrogen pollution

Nitrogen Pollution Changing Rocky Mountain National Park Vegetation, Says CU-Boulder Study

Mather Lecture

Nitrogen From Humans Pollutes Remote Lakes For More Than A Century