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A global model of carbon-nutrient interactionsThe global biogeochemical model presented has two primary objectives. First, it characterizes natural elemental cycles and their linkages for the four elements significant to Earth's biota: C, N, S, and P. Second, it describes changes in these cycles due to human activity. Global nutrient cycles were studied within the drainage basins of several major world rivers on each continent. The initial study region was the Mississippi drainage basin, concentrating on carbon and nitrogen. The model first establishes the nutrient budgets of the undisturbed ecosystems in a study region. It then uses a data set of land use histories for that region to document the changes in these budgets due to land uses. Nutrient movement was followed over time (1800 to 1980) for 30 ecosystems and 10 land use categories. A geographically referenced ecological information system (GREIS) was developed to manage the digital global data bases of 0.5 x 0.5 grid cells needed to run the model: potential vegetation, drainage basins, precipitation, runoff, contemporary land cover, and FAO soil maps of the world. The results show the contributions of land use categories to river nutrient loads on a continental scale; shifts in nutrient cycling patterns from closed, steady state systems to mobile transient or open, steady state systems; soil organic matter depletion patterns in U.S. agricultural lands; changing nutrient ratios due to land use changes; and the effect of using heavy fertilizer on aquatic systems.
Document ID
19930073152
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Moore, Berrien, III
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Gildea, Patricia
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Vorosmarty, Charles
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Mellilo, Jerry M.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. MA., United States)
Peterson, Bruce J.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. MA., United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1985
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Ames Research Center, First Symposium on Biospheric Research
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Accession Number
93N70599
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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