Nitrogen Pollution and the Meltdown of Urban Ecosystems

Brenton Ladd
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Brenton Ladd: Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Científica del Sur, Panamericana Sur km19, Lima 33, Peru

Land, 2016, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-8

Abstract: Urban ecosystems are carrying an extinction debt. Mitigating this debt will require the development of a predictive framework that improves our understanding of the factors causing decline of native biodiversity in urban areas. I argue that nitrogen is a common currency around which such a predictive framework could be built. I first summarise the evidence that shows the probable extent of nitrogen enrichment in urban ecosystems. I then review the body of empirical evidence that describes how nitrogen enrichment affects ecosystem process and function. By unifying these two bodies of empirical evidence, I generate a series of testable hypotheses that may allow for a better understanding of native biodiversity loss in urban areas.

Keywords: biodiversity; competition; extinction; eutrophication; herbivory; nitrogen; urban ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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