NINE aims to develop our understanding of the impacts of nitrogen deposition on natural ecosystems in Scotland in the context of changing climate and land-use pressures, providing evidence on how natural ecosystems are changing, what is driving this change and how best to manage and protect them.
The scientific challenge
Nitrogen is an essential element for life, but human activities have greatly altered the global nitrogen cycle, increasing the amount of reactive nitrogen compounds in the environment. Reactive nitrogen released into the environment reduces air quality and is deposited onto vegetation and soils as particulates or in rainfall. Enhanced nitrogen supply alters interactions between species, negatively impacting biodiversity and can also alter ecosystem functions such as carbon cycling with implications for carbon sequestration and emissions of greenhouse gases. When ecosystems’ capacity to retain nitrogen is exceeded, excess nitrogen escapes into surface waters, impacting on aquatic ecosystems and water quality.
While emissions of nitrogen from industry and transport have declined in recent years, emissions from agriculture remain high. In Scotland, nitrogen deposition is impacting widely on natural ecosystems, with a high proportion of habitats receiving excess nitrogen. Simultaneously, these ecosystems are also subject to the impacts of climate change and other drivers. Climate change has the potential to exacerbate the negative impacts of nitrogen deposition on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, both through climate-enhanced nitrogen emissions and via interactive effects of climate stresses and nitrogen deposition on organisms and processes. In turn, nitrogen deposition has the potential to feedback on climate change through its effects on the carbon balance of natural ecosystems.
The NINE project focusses on understanding the interactive impacts of nitrogen deposition and climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, particularly carbon and nitrogen cycling. The project aims to provide evidence on the interactive effects on nitrogen and climate on biodiversity and functioning in Scottish ecosystems, to develop indicators of these impacts for use in environmental monitoring, and to explore the potential for mitigation of impacts and appropriate methods to apply.
About the project
The NINE project comprises two work packages. Work package 1 focusses on nitrogen-climate interactions and aims to provide evidence on how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in Scottish natural ecosystems change in response to climate change and nitrogen deposition, identifying and addressing gaps in knowledge needed to model future change, anticipate problems and target restoration and mitigation effects. Research in this package will firstly review current knowledge of nitrogen climate interactions in Scottish habitats. Empirical studies using long-term vegetation resurvey datasets, long-term experiments and new surveys and experiments will then be used to explore interactive nitrogen-climate effects on a range of Scottish habitats, with particular focus on alpine and woodland habitats, soil biodiversity and fungal communities. In the final stage of the project, evidence gathered from literature review and empirical studies will be used to explore risks to biodiversity and ecosystem function under a range of future scenarios of nitrogen deposition and climate change.
Work package 2 focusses on mitigation potential, aiming to determine the most effective ways of mitigating the impacts of excess nitrogen deposition on natural ecosystems in Scotland and identify metrics to measure success. A review of current knowledge of thresholds for nitrogen impacts, responses to excess nitrogen and potential for mitigation through habitat management will be used to provide guidance on metrics for monitoring nitrogen impacts in Scotland and to inform design of a new experimental study trialling mitigation of nitrogen impacts in a high-priority Scottish ecosystem.
NINE is funded for a five-year period from April 2022 to March 2027.
Project outputs
Principle investigator
Team members
NINE is funded by Scottish government rural and environmental science and analytical services (RESAS), as part of the Scottish government environment, natural resources and agriculture (ENRA) strategic research programme 2022-2027.
