Rates of deforestation in the Amazon region have been accelerating, but the quantity and timing of nutrient losses from forested and deforested ecosystems are poorly understood. This paper investigates the broad variation in soil properties of the Amazon Basin as they influence transfers of plant nutrients from the terrestrial biosphere to the atmosphere and the aquatic biosphere. The dominant ...

Nutrient contamination of surface waters and groundwaters is an issue of growing importance as the risks associated with agricultural run-off escalate due to increasing demands on global food production. In this study, the influence of surface water–groundwater interaction on the nutrient flux in a lowland karst catchment was investigated with the aid of alkalinity sampling and a hydrological m...

Managing excess nutrients remains a major obstacle to improving ecosystem service benefits of urban waters. To inform more ecologically based landscape nutrient management, we compared watershed inputs, outputs, and retention for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in seven subwatersheds of the Mississippi River in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lawn fertilizer and pet waste dominated N and P inputs, respect...

First cut red clover-grass mixture sward were ensiled in two pits with inoculant (Lactobacillus rhamnosus + Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. Shermanii) and without any additives. Fermentation quality, nutrient losses and aerobic stability of silages were determined. The inoculated silage had no butyric acid, nutrient losses were lowered by 19.4%. In inoculated silage organic matter digesti...

When feedlot pens are scraped in the spring and summer, manure is often stored before land application can occur in the fall. Manure stockpiled or composted was evaluated for nutrient losses in 2 experiments for 104 (Exp. 1) and 111 d (Exp. 2). Stockpiles (n = 2 in Exp. 1 and n = 3 in Exp. 2) and compost windrows (n = 6 in Exp. 1 and n = 4 in Exp. 2) were constructed with feedlot manure scraped...

During the twentieth century, agricultural production strived to achieve increased food production in order to satisfy both local and export demands. In many cases, this led to increased farm sizes and an operational separation of crop and livestock production. Society fears that the trend of increasing centralization and industrialization of agriculture, specifically animal agriculture, has re...

Environmental pressure to reduce nutrient losses from agricultural fields has increased in recent years. To abate this nutrient loss to the environment, better management practices and new technologies need to be developed. Thus, research was conducted to evaluate if subsurface banding poultry litter (PL) would reduce nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loss in surface water runoff using a four-row...

Extreme hydro-meteorological events such as droughts are becoming more frequent, intense, and persistent. This is particularly true in the south central USA, where rapidly growing urban areas are running out of water and human-engineered water storage and management are leading to broad-scale changes in flow regimes. The Kiamichi River in southeastern Oklahoma, USA, has high fish and freshwater...

The livestock industry has undergone substantial changes in the past few decades. The poultry, swine, and dairy industries in particular have become increasingly concentrated. This has resulted in fewer, but larger, livestock operations throughout the country. As a result, there has been a growing concern about odor emissions from livestock operations and potential decreased water quality cause...

Empirical data regarding the time scales of nutrient losses from soil to water and land to sea were reviewed. The appearance of strongly elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in major European rivers was found to be primarily a post-war phenomenon. However, the relatively rapid water quality response to increased point source emissions and intensified agriculture does not imply tha...