The California Nitrogen Assessment

Nitrogen is indispensable to all life on Earth. However, humans now dominate the nitrogen cycle, and nitrogen emissions from human activity have real costs: water and air pollution, climate change, and detrimental effects on human health, biodiversity, and natural habitats. Too little nitrogen limits ecosystem processes, while too much nitrogen transforms ecosystems profoundly. The California Nitrogen Assessment is the first comprehensive account of nitrogen flows, practices, and policies for California, encompassing all nitrogen flows—not just those associated with agriculture—and their impacts on ecosystem services and human wellbeing. How California handles nitrogen issues will be of interest nationally and internationally, and the goal of the assessment is to link science with action and to produce information that affects both future policy and solutions for addressing nitrogen pollution. This book also provides a model for application of integrated ecosystem assessment methods at regional and state (subnational) levels.

The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, and Management Options and Policies provides a reference for anyone interested in Reactive N, from researchers and students, to environmental managers. Although the main processes that affect the N cycle are well known, this book is focused on the causes and effects of disruption in the N cycle, specifically in India. The book helps readers gain a precise understanding of the scale of nitrogen use, misuse, and release through various agricultural, industrial, vehicular, and other activities, also including discussions on its contribution to the pollution of water and air. Drawing upon the collective work of the Indian Nitrogen Group, this reference book helps solve the challenges associated with providing reliable estimates of nitrogen transfers within different ecosystems, also presenting the next steps that should be taken in the development of balanced, cost-effective, and feasible strategies to reduce the amount of reactive nitrogen. Identifies all significant sources of reactive nitrogen flows and their contribution to the nitrogen-cycle on a national, regional, and global level Covers nitrogen management across sectors, including the environment, food security, energy, and health Provides a single reference on reactive nitrogen in India to help in a number of activities, including the evaluation, analysis, synthesis, documentation, and communications on reactive nitrogen

This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

This book presents WHO guidelines for the protection of public health from risks due to a number of chemicals commonly present in indoor air. The substances considered in this review, i.e. benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (especially benzo[a]pyrene), radon, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, have indoor sources, are known in respect of their hazardousness to health and are often found indoors in concentrations of health concern. The guidelines are targeted at public health professionals involved in preventing health risks of environmental exposures, as well as specialists and authorities involved in the design and use of buildings, indoor materials and products. They provide a scientific basis for legally enforceable standards.

Presenting the first continental-scale assessment of reactive nitrogen in the environment, this book sets the related environmental problems in context by providing a multidisciplinary introduction to the nitrogen cycle processes. Issues of upscaling from farm plot and city to national and continental scales are addressed in detail with emphasis on opportunities for better management at local to global levels. The five key societal threats posed by reactive nitrogen are assessed, providing a framework for joined-up management of the nitrogen cycle in Europe, including the first cost-benefit analysis for different reactive nitrogen forms and future scenarios. Incorporating comprehensive maps, a handy technical synopsis and a summary for policy makers, this landmark volume is an essential reference for academic researchers across a wide range of disciplines, as well as stakeholders and policy makers. It is also a valuable tool in communicating the key environmental issues and future challenges to the wider public.

Methods of Soil Enzymology provides the first comprehensive set of vetted methods for studying enzymes in soils. Readers will especially benefit from the step-by-step explanation of the lab procedures, as well as background information for using these methods effectively and analyzing data. Main topics include activity assays, enzyme extraction, and synthetic enzyme complexes. Each method covered includes background informaton, step-by-step descriptions of the procedure, and special comments regarding nuances, pitfalls, and interpretation of the method. Learn the latest research methods, including enzyme extraction methods and procedures for creating synthetic enzyme complexes, as well as the newest ways to use small-scale and high-throughput methods for enzyme activity assays. Written for the researcher, but welcoming to those new to soil enzymology, the introduction includes conceptual information to orient those who are not familiar with these methods but want to use them. In the tradition of SSSA methods books, Methods of Soil Enzymology features a comprehensive approach with a focus on ease of use.

Rice production is affected by changing climate conditions and has the dual role of contributing to global warming through emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Climate change has been recognized as a major threat to the global environment. Because of insufficient field data, rice-growing countries face a problem when trying to comply with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change stipulations to compile a national inventory of emissions and to explore mitigation options. Given the expected doubling in rice production in Asia, the need to evaluate the interaction between climate change and rice production is critical to forming a sound basis for future directions of technology developments by policy makers, agriculturists, environmentalists, rice producers, and rice consumers. The present book comprises two sections. The first part documents a comprehensive overview of the results achieved from an interregional research effort to quantify methane emission from major rice ecosystems and to identify efficient mitigation options. This research report broadens understanding of the contribution of rice cultivation to methane emissions and clarifies that emissions are relatively low, except in specific rice ecosystems, and that these high emissions could be ameliorated without sacrificing yield. The second section shows results from other projects that investigated the role of rice cultivators in field and laboratory approaches. The findings represent inputs for future modeling approaches in the role of rice cultivators. The expanded database generated by other projects is reflected in modeling efforts.