Air quality and its ecological impacts: the case of nitrogen deposition

Humans have had a vast impact on the nitrogen cycle, releasing large amounts of nitrogen into the environment. Nitrogen pollution comes from a range of sources, including fossil fuel combustion and agriculture, and it is deposited on the Earth's surface in the form of wet and dry deposition. All this excess nitrogen has had large impacts on our semi-natural plant communities and the soil that they grow in.

Nitrogen deposition enriches and acidifies soils. This has impacts on the plant community, reducing the number of plants and changing the species composition, especially in habitats where organisms are adapted to low-nutrient conditions. In turn, the changes to the plant community mean that we can see impacts further up the food chain.

This presentation provides an overview of atmospheric nitrogen deposition and its impacts on semi-natural plant communities.

Header image credit: © rlesyk via Adobe Stock