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Use of Combined Biogeochemical Model Approaches and Empirical Data to Assess Critical Loads of Nitrogen

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Critical Loads and Dynamic Risk Assessments

Part of the book series: Environmental Pollution ((EPOL,volume 25))

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Abstract

Empirical and dynamic biogeochemical modelling are complementary approaches for determining the critical load (CL) of atmospheric nitrogen (N) or other constituent deposition that an ecosystem can tolerate without causing ecological harm. The greatest benefits are obtained when these approaches are used in combination. Confounding environmental factors can complicate the determination of empirical CLs across depositional gradients, while the experimental application of N amendments for estimating the CL does not realistically mimic the effects of chronic atmospheric N deposition. Biogeochemical and vegetation simulation models can provide CL estimates and valuable ecosystem response information, allowing for past and future scenario testing with various combinations of environmental factors, pollutants, pollutant control options, land management, and ecosystem response parameters. Even so, models are fundamentally gross simplifications of the real ecosystems they attempt to simulate. Empirical approaches are vital as a check on simulations and CL estimates, to parameterize models, and to elucidate mechanisms and responses under real world conditions. In this chapter, we provide examples of empirical and modelled N CL approaches in ecosystems from three regions of the United States: mixed conifer forest, desert scrub and pinyon-juniper woodland in California; alpine catchments in the Rocky Mountains; and lakes in the Adirondack region of New York state.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded in part by a National Science Foundation (USA) grant (NSF DEB 04–21530) and by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside, CA, USA

    Mark E. Fenn

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Charles T. Driscoll & Qingtao Zhou

  3. Department of Environmental Science and Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Leela E. Rao

  4. Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Thomas Meixner

  5. Department of Botany and Plant Sciences and Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Edith B. Allen

  6. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Fengming Yuan

  7. E&S Environmental Chemistry, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Timothy J. Sullivan

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  1. Mark E. Fenn
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  2. Charles T. Driscoll
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Correspondence to Mark E. Fenn .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Alterra Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Wim de Vries

  2. RIVM – Coordination Centre for Effects, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Jean-Paul Hettelingh

  3. RIVM – Coordination Centre for Effects, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Maximilian Posch

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Fenn, M. et al. (2015). Use of Combined Biogeochemical Model Approaches and Empirical Data to Assess Critical Loads of Nitrogen. In: de Vries, W., Hettelingh, JP., Posch, M. (eds) Critical Loads and Dynamic Risk Assessments. Environmental Pollution, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9508-1_10

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