Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Harnessing emerging technologies to reduce Gulf hypoxia

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Sustainability

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Precision farming enabled by big data and gene-editing technologies are accelerating progress toward increasing nitrogen-use efficiency. However, farmer engagement, public–private partnerships and sound public policies are critical to harness the potential of such technologies to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1: Portfolio approach to address the nutrient loading reduction challenge.

References

  1. Lassaletta, L., Billen, G., Grizzetti, B., Anglade, J. & Garnier, J. Environ. Res. Lett. 9, 105011 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Alexander, R. B. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 42, 822–830 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Keiser, D. A., Kling, C. L. & Shapiro, J. S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 5262–5269 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Compton, J. E. et al. Ecol. Lett. 14, 804–815 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rabotyagov, S. S. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 18530–18535 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured. NOAA (2 August 2017); https://go.nature.com/2ZcGQh3

  7. Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (USDA, 2012); https://go.nature.com/2zaNwO1

  8. Van Meter, K. J., Basu, N. B. & Van Cappellen, P. Glob. Biogeochem. Cy. 31, 2–23 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Dutta, D. et al. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 53, 5133–5147 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Woo, D. K. & Kumar, P. Water Resour. Res. 53, 8404–8422 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Capalbo, S. M., Antle, J. M. & Seavert, C. Agric. Syst. 155, 191–199 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Basso, B., Shuai, G., Xhang, J. & Robertson, G. P. Sci. Rep. 9, 5774 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Xu, G., Fan, X. & Miller, A. J. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 63, 153–182 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jaganathan, D., Ramasamy, K., Sellamuthu, G., Jayabalan, S. & Venkataraman, G. Front. Plant Sci. 9, 985 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kant, S. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 74, 89–96 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Fan, X. et al. J. Exp. Bot. 68, 2463–2475 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Adenle, A. A. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 36, 137–139 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Wolt, J. D., Wang, K. & Yang, B. Plant Biotechnol. J. 14, 510–518 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Shortle, J. S. & Horan, R. D. Int. Rev. Environ. Resour. Econ. 2, 101–133 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Many of the ideas expressed here emerged from a Critical Conversation Workshop on the Nitrogen Reduction Challenge for the Mississippi River basin in Chicago on 2–3 May 2018 that was generously supported by the Baum Fund administered by J. Friedman and E. Cornelison. P.K. acknowledges support from NSF grant EAR-1331906; B.M.G. acknowledges support from USDA NIFA Hatch multi-state research projects W-4133 and NC-1190; M.K. acknowledges support from a USDA NIFA Hatch project for this research. We thank H. Ahlers for creating the original illustration used for Fig. 1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Madhu Khanna, Benjamin M. Gramig, Evan H. DeLucia, Ximing Cai & Praveen Kumar

  2. Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Madhu Khanna & Benjamin M. Gramig

  3. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Evan H. DeLucia

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Ximing Cai & Praveen Kumar

Authors
  1. Madhu Khanna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin M. Gramig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Evan H. DeLucia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ximing Cai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Praveen Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.K., E.H.D. and P.K. were responsible for conceptualizing the manuscript. All authors contributed to the writing. M.K., P.K. and B.M.G. were responsible for conceptualizing the figure.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madhu Khanna.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khanna, M., Gramig, B.M., DeLucia, E.H. et al. Harnessing emerging technologies to reduce Gulf hypoxia. Nat Sustain 2, 889–891 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0381-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0381-4

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation