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martes, 10 de junio de 2014

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - How much fertilizer is too much for Earth's climate?

Helping farmers around the globe combat greenhouse gas emissions and climate change

tractor in a corn field at the NSF Kellogg Biological Station LTER site.

Applying nitrogen fertilizer to corn at the NSF Kellogg Biological Station LTER site.
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June 9, 2014

The following is part fifteen in a series on the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Visit parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen.

Helping farmers around the globe apply more precise amounts of fertilizer nitrogen can combat climate change.

That's the conclusion of a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the paper, researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) provide an improved prediction of nitrogen fertilizer's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural fields.

The study uses data from around the world to show that emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a greenhouse gas produced in soil following nitrogen addition, rise faster than previously expected when fertilizer rates exceed crop needs.

Nitrogen-based fertilizers spur greenhouse gas emissions by stimulating microbes in the soil to produce more nitrous oxide.

Nitrous oxide is the third most important greenhouse gas, behind carbon dioxide and methane.

Agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of human-caused nitrous oxide emissions worldwide, which have increased substantially in recent years due to increased nitrogen fertilizer use.

"Our motivation is to learn where to best target agricultural efforts to slow global warming," says MSU scientist Phil Robertson. Robertson is also director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site, one of 25 such NSF LTER sites around the globe, and senior author of the paper.

"Agriculture accounts for 8 to 14 percent of all greenhouse gas production globally. We're showing how farmers can help reduce this number by applying nitrogen fertilizer more precisely."

The production of nitrous oxide can be greatly reduced if the amount of fertilizer needed by crops is exactly the amount that's applied to farmers' fields.

When plants' nitrogen needs are matched with the nitrogen that's supplied, fertilizer has substantially less effect on greenhouse gas emissions, Robertson says.

"These results vastly improve the ability of research to inform climate change, food security and the economic health of the world's farmers," says Saran Twombly, a program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research through the LTER Program.

Lead author and MSU researcher Iurii Shcherbak notes that the research is especially applicable to fertilizer practices in under-fertilized areas such as sub-Saharan Africa.

"Because nitrous oxide emissions won't be accelerated by fertilizers until crops' nitrogen needs are met, more nitrogen fertilizer can be added to under-fertilized crops without much affecting emissions," says Shcherbak.

Adding less nitrogen to over-fertilized crops elsewhere, however, would deliver major reductions to greenhouse gas emissions in those regions.

The study provides support for expanding the use of carbon credits to pay farmers for better fertilizer management and offers a framework for using this credit system around the world.

Carbon credits for fertilizer management are now available to U.S. corn farmers, says Robertson.

The research was also funded by MSU, the U.S. Department of Energy's Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the Electric Power Research Institute.

--	Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
--	Layne Cameron, MSU (517) 353-8819 layne.cameron@cabs.msu.edu

Investigators Douglas Landis
Thomas Schmidt
Katherine Gross
Stephen Hamilton
G. Philip Robertson

Related Institutions/Organizations Michigan State University

Locations Michigan

Related Programs Long-Term Ecological Research

Related Awards #1027253 The KBS LTER Project: Long-term Ecological Research in Row-crop Agriculture

Total Grants $4,103,781

Related WebsitesNSF Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site:

http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/
NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network:

http://www.lternet.edu
NSF News: Scientists Develop New Carbon Accounting Method to Reduce Farmers' Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=123848
NSF News: Marginal Lands Are Prime Fuel Source for Alternative Energy:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126498
NSF Publication: Discoveries in Long-Term Ecological Research:

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13083/nsf13083.pdf

A Michigan corn field east of the Kellogg Biological Station LTER site.
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View of a Kellogg Biological Station LTER experiment to test how crops respond to nitrogen.
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Good crop: Corn in mid-August at the Kellogg Biological Station LTER site.
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Researcher AJ Ozanich collects greenhouse gas samples in a Kellogg Biological Station corn field.
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LTER scientist Kevin Kahmark next to equipment analyzing samples in the lab.

LTER scientist Kevin Kahmark next to equipment analyzing samples in the lab.

LTER scientist Kevin Kahmark analyzes greenhouse gas samples in the lab.
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the National Science Foundation (NSF)

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miércoles, 18 de julio de 2012

Agriculture: Scientists Develop New Carbon Accounting Method to Reduce Farmers' Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., t's summer. For many of us, summer is a time synonymous with fresh corn, one of the major field crops produced in the United States.

Agricultural crops are studied in experiments at NSF's Kellogg Biological Station LTER site.

Credit: Julie Doll, NSF KBS LTER Site

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Dawn breaks over fields, some fertilized, some not, at the KBS site.

Credit: Julie Doll, NSF KBS LTER Site

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Where does nitrogen fertilizer go? Studies of crops hold answers.

Credit: Julie Doll, NSF KBS LTER Site

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Scientists Develop New Carbon Accounting Method to Reduce Farmers' Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer

Large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer lead to nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere

It's summer. For many of us, summer is a time synonymous with fresh corn, one of the major field crops produced in the United States.

In 2011, corn was planted on more than 92 million acres in the U.S., helping the nation continue its trend as the world's largest exporter of the crop.

Corn is a nitrogen-loving plant. To achieve desired production levels, most U.S. farmers apply synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to their fields every year.

Once nitrogen fertilizer hits the ground, however, it's hard to contain and is easily lost to groundwater, rivers, oceans and the atmosphere.

"That's not good for the crops, the farmers or the environment," says Phil Robertson, a scientist at Michigan State University and principal investigator at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site.

KBS is one of 26 such NSF LTER sites across the United States and around the globe in ecosystems from forests to coral reefs.

Nitrogen lost to the environment from agricultural fields is nitrogen not used by crops, Robertson says. "This costs farmers money and degrades water and air quality, with significant health, biodiversity and downstream economic effects."

Farmers already manage fertilizer to avoid large losses. But, to reduce losses further, it currently costs more money than the fertilizer saves.

Robertson and colleagues are working on a way to help make the time and expense of efforts to mitigate fertilizer loss worthwhile. They're putting the finishing touches on a program that would pay farmers to apply less nitrogen fertilizer in a way that doesn't jeopardize yields. The program, called the nitrous oxide greenhouse gas reduction methodology, is being conducted in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute.

"This project is a great example of how long-term, fundamental research can contribute practical solutions to important environmental problems of concern in the U.S.--and ultimately around the world," says Matt Kane, an NSF program director for LTER.

In the United States, agriculture accounts for almost 70 percent of all nitrous oxide emissions linked with human activity. Nitrous oxide is one of the major gases contributing to human-induced climate change; it has a lifetime in the atmosphere of more than 100 years. In addition, a molecule of nitrous oxide has more than 300 times the heat-trapping effect in the atmosphere as a molecule of carbon dioxide.

In soils, the production of nitrous oxide through microbial activity is a natural process. By applying large amounts of fertilizer, however, humans have greatly increased the amount of nitrous oxide in soils. This is particularly true when nitrogen fertilizer is added in larger amounts than the crop needs, and when it is applied at times or in ways that make it difficult for the crop to get the full benefit.

"Improving the efficiency of nitrogen use for field crop agriculture holds great promise for helping mitigate climate change," Robertson says.

The nitrous oxide greenhouse gas reduction methodology, which is a way for farmers to participate in existing and emerging carbon markets, recently was approved by the American Carbon Registry and is in its final stages of validation by the Verified Carbon Standard--two carbon market standards that operate worldwide.

When farmers reduce their nitrogen fertilizer use, they can use the methodology as a means of generating carbon credits. These credits can be traded in carbon markets for financial payments.

The scientific underpinning for the methodology rests on decades of research Robertson and colleagues have conducted at the KBS LTER site.

"By closely following nitrous oxide, crop yields and other ecosystem responses to fertilizers," Robertson says, "we discovered that nitrous oxide emissions increase exponentially and consistently with increasing nitrogen fertilizer use."

The idea of the methodology is to offer ways of using less fertilizer to produce crops. But if farmers apply less fertilizer, will their crop production take a hit?

"Carbon credits provide an incentive to apply fertilizer more precisely, not to reduce yields," says Robertson. "If yields were reduced significantly, the climate effect would be nil because a farmer somewhere else would have to use more nitrogen to make up the yield loss, thereby generating more nitrous oxide."

The new methodology developed at NSF's KBS LTER site was successfully used by a Michigan farmer in Tuscola County as part of a proof-of-concept project.

"A major value of the approach is that it is straightforward to understand and implement," says KBS LTER scientist Neville Millar, who co-led development of the methodology.

In addition to providing an economic incentive, the methodology is a tool farmers can apply to enhance their land stewardship.

"The same strategies that farmers can use to minimize nitrous oxide loss will act to reduce the loss of nitrate to groundwater and loss of other forms of nitrogen to the atmosphere," says Millar.

Adam Diamant, technical executive at the Electric Power Research Institute and a co-developer of the methodology, says the new approach resulted in a "quadruple win: for farmers, for industrial organizations that may be required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, for the atmosphere and for water quality from the upper Midwest all the way to the Gulf of Mexico."

Adds Robertson: "We're in uncharted territory with a growing global human population and unprecedented environmental change.

"Performing the research that links environmental benefits to environmental markets, without compromising crop yields, is crucial for feeding more people while sustaining Earth's ecosystems."

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF LTER Network: http://www.lternet.edu
NSF Kellogg Biological Station LTER Site: http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget is $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards nearly $420 million in professional and service contracts yearly.