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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Author Spotlight: Understanding Riverine Nitrogen Impacts and Primary Productivity for Effective Nutrient Management

Author Spotlight: Understanding Riverine Nitrogen Impacts and Primary Productivity for Effective Nutrient Management

Published on: July 14, 2023

A spatial total nitrogen budget for Great Britain.

Xiangwen Fan¹, Fred Worrall², Lisa M Baldini³

¹Dept. of Geography, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.

The Science of the Total Environment

|May 4, 2020

Summary

This study mapped nutrient budgets across Great Britain, revealing most areas are nitrogen sources. Understanding these nitrogen (N) budgets helps predict environmental accumulation and impacts.

Keywords:

Land use change National budget Reactive nitrogen Spatial analysis Total N

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Published on: October 7, 2020

Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Biogeochemistry
Ecosystem Studies

Background:

Previous nitrogen (N) budget studies were limited to reactive N or regional scales.
A spatially-distributed total N budget is crucial for understanding environmental accumulation.
Great Britain (GB) has not had a detailed N budget analysis at a fine spatial resolution.

Purpose of the Study:

To estimate the spatially-distributed total nitrogen (N) budget for Great Britain (GB) at a 1 km² grid scale.
To identify nitrogen (N) source and sink areas across GB.
To analyze N budget distribution across different land uses.

Main Methods:

A mass balance model was used to quantify N inputs and outputs.
Inputs included biological N fixation, atmospheric deposition, food/feed transfer, and synthetic fertilizer.
Outputs included atmospheric emission, denitrification, fluvial loss, sewage emissions, and groundwater loss.

Main Results:

The total N budget for GB in 2015 was a net source of -1045 (±244) ktonnes N/year.
Spatial N budgets ranged from -21 (±3) to 34 (±5) tonnes N/year per km².
Urban and arable lands were predominantly N sources (97% and 98.5% respectively), while 65% of grassland was a sink.

Conclusions:

GB exhibits significant spatial variation in nitrogen (N) budgets, with most grid squares acting as sources.
Land use is a key determinant of N budget status, with urban and arable areas being major contributors to N release.
Human activities released a total of -16.65 kg N/capita/year in 2015, highlighting the need for targeted management strategies.