Marine eutrophication impacts from present and future production of spring barley
Abstract
Environmental emissions of nitrogen (N) from agriculture surplus may enrich coastal waters and trigger marine eutrophication impacts. We estimated these impacts for spring barley production in Denmark, under present and future climatic conditions with double carbon dioxide concentration and 5 °C increase. Characterised emissions of airborne (NH3 and NOx) and waterborne (NO3-) forms result in an endpoint impact of 2.35*10-12 (North Sea) and 8.47*10-12 species.yr (Baltic Sea) under present conditions per kg spring barley produced. The future scenario shows 67% increase on both spatial units. Spatial differentiation shows 3.6 fold higher impacts in the Baltic Sea in any of the temporal scenarios. The need for food/feed, efficacy of increasing fertilizers application, and increased competition for productive land may alter emissions. Biological processes, species metabolism and displacement, or sensitivity to hypoxia under future pressures may alter the impacts assessment.
Info
Conference Paper, 2015
UN SDG Classification
DK Main Research Area
Science/Technology
