It is not surprising that humans have profoundly altered the global nitrogen (N) cycle in an effort to feed 7 billion people, because nitrogen is an essential plant and animal nutrient. Food and energy production from agriculture, combined with industrial and energy sources, have more than doubled the amount of reactive nitrogen circulating annually on land. Humanity has disrupted the nitrogen...
This January 2012 press release introduces and describes the significance of issue #15 of ESA's Issues in Ecology series, "Excess Nitrogen in the U.S. Environment: Trends, Risks, and Solutions."
This report explores the potential impacts on ecology and biodiversity associated with reallocating land use for biofuel production as well as how economics and farm policies may influence the land available for biofuel harvest. This report also discusses other factors relevant to designing bioenergy systems for optimum social, economic and ecological benefits.
This report is one of a...
This report explores how switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum L.), a native perennial cellulosic grass, may become the center of biofuel production in some parts of the Great Plains and Midwest. This report will address the sustainability of growing biofuels in the US grassland regions, the environmental and ecological changes that have occurred in these areas already, and how the cultivation of biofuel...
This report looks at both the grain and cellulose-based “bioenergy landscapes” and review what is known about their biogeochemical impacts. This report will also explore the complexity of factors involved in calculating the benefits of particular cropping systems. In evaluating the benefits, the use of mathematics as a method to projecting performance and environmental outcomes is explained as...
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