Nitrogen (N) is one of the major elements that are essential for plant and animal growth. Human activities, including fossil fuel burning and fertilizer production, have doubled the amount of bio-available nitrogen globally. Much of this excess nitrogen is emitted to the atmosphere and eventually returns to the Earth's surface through wet or dry deposition. To quantify site level wet nitrogen deposition rates (Regional and Global), we built and deployed ion-exchange resin collectors based on existing tested and published methodologies (Fenn et al. 2002; Fenn & Poth 2004; Simkin et al. 2004). These collectors yield deposition estimates consistent with standard NADP collector columns, but can be manufactured using common, inexpensive hardware components. We are currently analyzing data from this project.
Deployed collectors in NutNet sites in Argentina, Florida, Nebraska, and New Mexico.
Protocols
deployment_of_n_collectors_final.pdf
bird_crown_construction_instructions.pdf
Funding Organization: National Science Foundation
Co-Principal Investigator: W. Stanley Harpole