Abstract
Regional nitrogen budgets are useful for assessing what is known about nitrogen cycling in important ecosystems of a region, for placing the various regional fluxes and pools into perspective, and for providing insight into the processes that regulate both regional and global nitrogen cycling. Existing regional budgest have been used both to study groundwater nitrate pollution and to help identify local ecosystems that are important on a land-use basis but that are poorly described biogeochemically. Avoidable problems common to many budgets include inappropriate compartment components, inadequate documentation, and unjustified certainty. Though imprecise, large-scale nutrient budgets at our present stage of understanding offer to researchers and system managers important advantages that would otherwise not be available.
Resumen
Los balances regionales de nitrógeno son útiles para estimar el estado del conocimiento sobre el ciclo de nitrógeno en los ecosistemas mas importantes de la región, para enfocar los flujos y reservas regionales en perspectiva y para adentrarse en los procesos que regulan tanto los ciclos regionales como los globales. Los balances regionales existentes se han utilizado para estudiar la contaminación de aguas freáticas con nitratos y para identificar aquellos ecosistemas localmente improtantes desde el punto de vista del uso de la tierra pero que son poco conocidos biogeoquímicamente. Algunos problemas que son comunes a muchos balances son: la selección de compartimientos inapropiados, documentación inadecuada y la certeza injustificada. Aun cuando sean imprecisos, los balances en gran escala, en el estado actual del conocimiento, aportan a investigadores y a quienes manjean los sistemas, algunas ventajas importantes que no estarían disponibles de otro modo.
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