The EU and the World Health Organization apply a drinking water standard for nitrate in drinking water of 50 milligrams per litre. The risks to human health posed by nitrate in drinking water have been an issue of debate for many years. Drinking water is only one - and often...
With economic growth, urbanization and changing diets, world demand for plant-derived oils and their derivates is soaring. Oils are used inter alia in the food, feed and cosmetics industry, and increasingly as a biofuel. Soybean is one of the major booming oil crops. In...
The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is a major cause of diarrhea worldwide. This paper presents the first model-based inventory with 0.5 by 0.5 degree resolution of global Cryptosporidium emissions from humans and animals to surface water in the year 2000. Our results may...
For the last five years, scientists across Europe have chronicled the little-known nitrogen dilemma and the threats it poses to our environment and health – as well as how we can solve the problem.
Both newly fixed N and recycled N (e.g., manure) are processed by terrestrial ecosystems. A substantial portion of this recycled N is subsequently transferred to groundwater, wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, continental shelves and oceanic waters, which has been described...
Mitigating ammonia (NH3) volatilization from intensive pasture systems is critical for environmental sustainability. However, field-scale evaluation on the potential of enhanced efficiency fertilizers (e.g. urease inhibitors and controlled-release fertilizers) in mitigating...
This paper constitutes the first spatially explicit, global assessment of sewage N and P emissions to surface water for the period 1970 to 2000, and the first projection of such N and P emissions for the future. This approach was developed as part of an international...
Since 1900, N export by the Yangtze river increased 17-fold and that of P 7-fold. This dramatic increase in coastal nutrient loading could lead to declining oxygen concentrations waters, and the increase in molar N:P ratio could increase the risk of harmful algal blooms.
Only under the most optimistic sustainability scenario, the global synthetic fertilizer use in croplands stabilizes or even shrinks in the coming decades. In the most pessimistic fragmentation scenario, synthetic fertilization application rates are expected to increase almost...
Reducing hunger while staying within planetary boundaries of pollution, land use and fresh water use is one of the most urgent sustainable development goals. It is imperative to understand future food demand, the agricultural system, and the interactions with other natural...
