IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v5y2016i3p23-d73366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nitrogen Pollution and the Meltdown of Urban Ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Brenton Ladd

    (Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Científica del Sur, Panamericana Sur km19, Lima 33, Peru
    Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia)

Abstract

Urban ecosystems are carrying an extinction debt. Mitigating this debt will require the development of a predictive framework that improves our understanding of the factors causing decline of native biodiversity in urban areas. I argue that nitrogen is a common currency around which such a predictive framework could be built. I first summarise the evidence that shows the probable extent of nitrogen enrichment in urban ecosystems. I then review the body of empirical evidence that describes how nitrogen enrichment affects ecosystem process and function. By unifying these two bodies of empirical evidence, I generate a series of testable hypotheses that may allow for a better understanding of native biodiversity loss in urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Brenton Ladd, 2016. "Nitrogen Pollution and the Meltdown of Urban Ecosystems," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-8, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:23-:d:73366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/3/23/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/3/23/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Engelkes & Elly Morriën & Koen J. F. Verhoeven & T. Martijn Bezemer & Arjen Biere & Jeffrey A. Harvey & Lauren M. McIntyre & Wil L. M. Tamis & Wim H. van der Putten, 2008. "Successful range-expanding plants experience less above-ground and below-ground enemy impact," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7224), pages 946-948, December.
    2. Robert B. McKane & Loretta C. Johnson & Gaius R. Shaver & Knute J. Nadelhoffer & Edward B. Rastetter & Brian Fry & Anne E. Giblin & Knut Kielland & Bonnie L. Kwiatkowski & James A. Laundre & Georgia M, 2002. "Resource-based niches provide a basis for plant species diversity and dominance in arctic tundra," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6867), pages 68-71, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hu, M.H. & Ao, Y.S. & Yang, X.E. & Li, T.Q., 2008. "Treating eutrophic water for nutrient reduction using an aquatic macrophyte (Ipomoea aquatica Forsskal) in a deep flow technique system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(5), pages 607-615, May.
    2. van Wijk, M.T., 2007. "Predicting ecosystem functioning from plant traits: Results from a multi-scale ecophysiological modeling approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 453-463.
    3. Heikkinen, Juha & Mäkipää, Raisa, 2010. "Testing hypotheses on shape and distribution of ecological response curves," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 388-399.
    4. Aguilera, Anna G., 2011. "The influence of soil community density on plant-soil feedbacks: An important unknown in plant invasion," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(18), pages 3413-3420.
    5. Ya-Huang Luo & Jie Liu & Shao-Lin Tan & Marc William Cadotte & Yue-Hua Wang & Kun Xu & De-Zhu Li & Lian-Ming Gao, 2016. "Trait-Based Community Assembly along an Elevational Gradient in Subalpine Forests: Quantifying the Roles of Environmental Factors in Inter- and Intraspecific Variability," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Yan, Chuan & Zhang, Zhibin, 2016. "Interspecific interaction strength influences population density more than carrying capacity in more complex ecological networks," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 332(C), pages 1-7.
    7. Samuel E. Wuest & Lukas Schulz & Surbhi Rana & Julia Frommelt & Merten Ehmig & Nuno D. Pires & Ueli Grossniklaus & Christian S. Hardtke & Ulrich Z. Hammes & Bernhard Schmid & Pascal A. Niklaus, 2023. "Single-gene resolution of diversity-driven overyielding in plant genotype mixtures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Fukano, Yuya & Tachiki, Yuuya & Yahara, Tetsukazu & Iwasa, Yoh, 2013. "Soil disturbances can suppress the invasion of alien plants under plant–soil feedback," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 260(C), pages 42-49.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:23-:d:73366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.