Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives
Using the net anthropogenic nitrogen input (NANI) approach we estimated the N budget for the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa. The NANI of the basin ranged from 887 to 3008 kg N km−2 yr−1 (mean: 1827 kg N km−2 yr−1) for the period 1995–2000. The net nitrogen release at basin level is due primarily...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51628 |
| _version_ | 1855514626651848704 |
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| author | Zhou, M. Brandt, P. Pelster, David E. Rufino, Mariana C. Robinson, Timothy P. Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus |
| author_browse | Brandt, P. Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Pelster, David E. Robinson, Timothy P. Rufino, Mariana C. Zhou, M. |
| author_facet | Zhou, M. Brandt, P. Pelster, David E. Rufino, Mariana C. Robinson, Timothy P. Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus |
| author_sort | Zhou, M. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Using the net anthropogenic nitrogen input (NANI) approach we estimated the N budget for the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa. The NANI of the basin ranged from 887 to 3008 kg N km−2 yr−1 (mean: 1827 kg N km−2 yr−1) for the period 1995–2000. The net nitrogen release at basin level is due primarily to livestock and human consumption of feed and foods, contributing between 69% and 85%. Atmospheric oxidized N deposition contributed approximately 14% to the NANI of the Lake Victoria Basin, while either synthetic N fertilizer imports or biological N fixations only contributed less than 6% to the regional NANI. Due to the low N imports of feed and food products (<20 kg N km−2 yr−1), nitrogen release to the watershed must be derived from the mining of soil N stocks. The fraction of riverine N export to Lake Victoria accounted for 16%, which is much lower than for watersheds located in Europe and USA (25%). A significant reduction of the uncertainty of our N budget estimate for Lake Victoria Basin would be possible if better data on livestock systems and riverine N export were available. Our study indicates that at present soil N mining is the main source of nitrogen in the Lake Victoria Basin. Thus, sustainable N management requires increasing agricultural N inputs to guarantee food security and rehabilitation and protection of soils to minimize environmental costs. Moreover, to reduce N pollution of the lake, improving management of human and animal wastes needs to be carefully considered in future. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace51628 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| publisherStr | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace516282024-06-26T10:18:04Z Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives Zhou, M. Brandt, P. Pelster, David E. Rufino, Mariana C. Robinson, Timothy P. Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus research Using the net anthropogenic nitrogen input (NANI) approach we estimated the N budget for the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa. The NANI of the basin ranged from 887 to 3008 kg N km−2 yr−1 (mean: 1827 kg N km−2 yr−1) for the period 1995–2000. The net nitrogen release at basin level is due primarily to livestock and human consumption of feed and foods, contributing between 69% and 85%. Atmospheric oxidized N deposition contributed approximately 14% to the NANI of the Lake Victoria Basin, while either synthetic N fertilizer imports or biological N fixations only contributed less than 6% to the regional NANI. Due to the low N imports of feed and food products (<20 kg N km−2 yr−1), nitrogen release to the watershed must be derived from the mining of soil N stocks. The fraction of riverine N export to Lake Victoria accounted for 16%, which is much lower than for watersheds located in Europe and USA (25%). A significant reduction of the uncertainty of our N budget estimate for Lake Victoria Basin would be possible if better data on livestock systems and riverine N export were available. Our study indicates that at present soil N mining is the main source of nitrogen in the Lake Victoria Basin. Thus, sustainable N management requires increasing agricultural N inputs to guarantee food security and rehabilitation and protection of soils to minimize environmental costs. Moreover, to reduce N pollution of the lake, improving management of human and animal wastes needs to be carefully considered in future. 2014-10-01 2014-11-24T08:43:35Z 2014-11-24T08:43:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51628 en Open Access IOP Publishing Zhou, M., Brandt, P., Pelster, D., Rufino, M.C., Robinson, T. and Butterbach-Bahl, K. 2014 Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives. Environmental Research Letters 9: 105009. |
| spellingShingle | research Zhou, M. Brandt, P. Pelster, David E. Rufino, Mariana C. Robinson, Timothy P. Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title | Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title_full | Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title_fullStr | Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title_short | Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: Syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives |
| title_sort | regional nitrogen budget of the lake victoria basin east africa syntheses uncertainties and perspectives |
| topic | research |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51628 |
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