A new global-scale modeling study that takes into account
nitrogen – a key nutrient for plants – estimates that carbon emissions from
human activities on land were 40 percent higher in the 1990s than in studies
that did not account for nitrogen.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and the University of Bristol Cabot Institute published their
findings in the journal Global Change Biology. The findings will be a part of
the upcoming Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.
“One nutrient can make a huge impact on the carbon cycle and
net emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide,” said study leader Atul
Jain, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the U. of I. “We know that climate
is changing, but the question is how much? To understand that, we have to
understand interactive feedback processes – the interactions of climate with
the land, but also interactions between nutrients within the land.”