You are here:
NITROGEN EFFECTS ON COASTAL MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Kelly, J. R. NITROGEN EFFECTS ON COASTAL MARINE ECOSYSTEMS. Chapter 9., Hatfield and Follett (ed.), Nitrogen in the Environment: Sources, Problems and Management. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands, , 207-251, (2001).
Description:
In the 1960s the problem of nutrient inputs to freshwater systems, and scientific debate about it, was reaching a peak. . . Even before the freshwater decision-makers became fully focused on setting limits on phosphorus (P) loading by a seminal experiment of David Schindler (1974), Ryther and Dunstan (1971) suggested that nitrogen (N) played the more critical role in coastal marine systems. . . The overwhelming evidence, including observational evidence and controlled mesocosm experiments, confirmas a central role of N in establishing biological responses to nutrient loading in coastal waters. . . Riverine and atmospheric enrichments, combined with burgeoning coastal zone populations of humans and their associated land use changes and wastewater releases, make coastal systems a frontline receiving system for much of the enormous wastewater releases, make coastal systems a frontine receiving system for much of the enormous global N enrichment experiment now in progress. What is happening in coastal ecosystems and what do we expect to happen if N loads to rise? . . .(The term "coastal marine" or "coastal systems" is used in this chapter as shorthand for estuaries, shallow embayments, and lagoons, as well as more open nearshore and shelfwater ecosystems along oceanic terrestrial margins, as distinct from similar coastal systems on large inland seas like the Great Lakes.)