Broken Biochemical Cycle of Nitrogen: Not As Easy To Fix As Thought

In Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University researchers have found that it’s not easy to fix the biochemical cycle of nitrogen and that human activities leading to increased nitrogen and its impact in waterways can’t be managed as easily as initially thought. The researchers note that most of the nitrogen increase in the United States comes from fertilizer runoff which causes algae blooms in waterways and creates “dead zones” with low oxygen which kills fish and other aquatic creatures. The researchers determined where nitrogen enters waterways, noting a significant concentration in the corn belt, but what they didn’t expect was that the weather, rainfall specifically, plays a critical role in whether nitrogen management succeeds. So while they may be able to minimize and control how much nitrogen is applied to the soil, they can’t control the rainfall which directly affects how much of the nitrogen gets washed away into the waterways.