Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar

"Atmospheric Deposition in Urban and Rural Environments: Overload or Limitation?" with Pamela Templer, Boston University. 

"Atmospheric Deposition in Urban and Rural Environments: Overload or Limitation?" with Pamela Templer, Boston University. 

In most temperate forest ecosystems around the globe, nitrogen and phosphorus are limiting elements that constrains net primary production and carbon sequestration by ecosystems. However, increased nitrogen inputs from atmospheric deposition can lead to nitrogen saturation, the syndrome of responses in which nitrogen inputs exceed plant and microbial demand and lead to negative consequences such as soil acidification, loss of biodiversity, and eutrophication. In recent decades, much research has focused on anthropogenic activities that increase inputs of reactive nitrogen to forests. However, atmospheric nitrogen deposition is now declining over large areas of North America and Europe and there have been remarkable declines in soil nitrogen availability in temperate forests that cannot be explained by declines in atmospheric deposition alone. Now, concerns about nitrogen saturation and over supply are being replaced with concerns about nitrogen oligotrophication causing nitrogen limitation of forest productivity and diminished capacity of ecosystems to dynamically respond to disturbance and environmental change. Evidence for widespread terrestrial nitrogen oligotrophication is rising, but the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are unclear. We examined nitrogen and phosphorus deposition in urban and rural sites around the globe and evaluated the role of tree canopies in affecting the rates and forms of compounds reaching the forest floor and nearby waterways.

Pamela Templer is the Professor and Chair in the Department of Biology at Boston University. Templer Lab focuses on the effects of environmental change, including climate change, atmospheric deposition, and urbanization on biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen in natural and managed ecosystems. They explore how plant-microbial interactions influence carbon exchange, nitrogen retention, forest productivity, and water and air quality. They also pursue projects that integrate across environmental science and policy through a collaborative approach with governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

For more information and to register, visit event page.

Contact: Xu Feng, xfeng@g.harvard.edu