Abstract
For a 19th-century world shrinking with each new shipping route, bringing in extra nitrogen not just from the manure heap down the road, but also from stocks thousands of miles away was now possible. Nutrient-rich waters and abundant fish stocks off the coast of Peru1 had supported generation after generation of seabirds. The by-product of this long-standing fishy feast was huge accumulations of nitrogen-loaded bird manure, called guano. In the low-rainfall conditions of the region it built up year on year, and by the latter half of the century these mounds of off-white gold had become a vital prop to global food production2,3.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Nixon, S. & Thomas, A. On the size of the Peru upwelling ecosystem. Deep-Sea Research Part I — Oceanographic Research Paper 48, 2521–2528, doi:10.1016/s0967–0637(01)00023–1 (2001).
Mathew, W. M. Peru and the British Guano Market, 1840–1870. The Economic History Review 23, 112–128 (1970).
Hollett, D. More precious than gold: the story of the Peruvian guano trade. (Associated University Press, 2008).
Urbansky, E. T., Brown, S. K., Magnuson, M. L. & Kelty, C. A. Perchlorate levels in samples of sodium nitrate fertilizer derived from Chilean caliche. Environmental Pollution 112, 299–302 (2001).
Bartell, F. E. Nitrogen fixation by the cyanide process. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 14, 699–704, doi:10.1021/ie50152a008 (1922).
Haber, F. & van Oordt, G. On the formation of ammonia from the elements. Zeitschrift für Anorganische Chemie 44, 341–378, doi:10.1002/zaac. 19050440122 (1905).
Smil, V. Enriching the earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the transformation of world food production. (MIT Press, 2001).
Kandemir, T., Schuster, M. E., Senyshyn, A., Behrens, M. & Schlogl, R. The Haber-Bosch process revisited: on the real structure and stability of ‘ammonia iron’ under working conditions. Angewandte Chemie 52, 12723–12726, doi:10.1002/anie.201305812 (2013).
Skagegård, L.-Å. The remarkable story of Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize. (Konsultförlaget, 1994).
Miles, F. D. Nitric acid: manufacture and uses. Imperial Chemical Industries. 75 pp. (Oxford University Press, London, 1961).
Johnson, J. A. Master mind: the rise and fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel laureate who launched the age of chemical warfare. Technology and Culture 47, 835–837, doi:10.1353/tech.2006.0231 (2006).
Bloch, P. Zyklon-B + Nazi extermination technology. Esprit 9, 53–56 (1980).
Hunt, L. The ammonia oxidation process for nitric acid manufacture. Platinum Metals Review 2, 129–134 (1958).
Khush, G. S. Green revolution: preparing for the 21st century. Genome/National Research Council Canada = Genome/Conseil national de recherches Canada 42, 646–655 (1999).
Galloway, J. N. The global nitrogen cycle: past, present and future. Science in China. Series C, Life sciences/Chinese Academy of Sciences 48 Spl issue, 669–677 (2005).
Tian, G., Cai, Z., Cao, J. & Li, X. Factors affecting ammonia volatilisation from a rice-wheat rotation system. Chemosphere 42, 123–129 (2001).
Prosser, J. I. & Society for General Microbiology. Nitrification. (Published for the Society for General Microbiology by IRL, 1986).
Payne, W. J. Devitrification. (Wiley, 1981).
Dunbabin, V., Diggle, A. & Rengel, Z. Is there an optimal root architecture for nitrate capture in leaching environments? Plant, Cell & Environment 26, 835–844 (2003).
Dittert, K., Bol, R., King, R., Chadwick, D. & Hatch, D. Use of a novel nitrification inhibitor to reduce nitrous oxide emission from (15)N-labelled dairy slurry injected into soil. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry: RCM 15, 1291–1296, doi:10.1002/rcm.335 (2001).
Xu, G., Fan, X. & Miller, A. J. Plant nitrogen assimilation and use efficiency. Annual Review of Plant Biology 63, 153–182, doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042811–105532 (2012).
van der Eerden, L. J. M., de Visser, P. H. B. & van Dijk, C. J. Risk of damage to crops in the direct neighbourhood of ammonia sources. Environmental Pollution 102, 49–53, doi:10.1016/s0269–7491(98)80014–6 (1998).
Cleland, E. E. & Harpole, W. S. Nitrogen enrichment and plant communities. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1195, 46–61, doi:10.1111/j.1749–6632.2010.05458.x (2010).
Aber, J. D. Nitrogen cycling and nitrogen saturation in temperate forest ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 7, 220–224, doi:10.1016/0169–5347 (92)90048-G (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Dave Reay
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reay, D. (2015). Nitrogen and the Anthropocene. In: Nitrogen and Climate Change. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137286963_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137286963_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-28695-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-28696-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Intern. Relations & Development CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)