Chapter 5
Reactive Nitrogen Budgets in China
Baojing Gu and Xiuming Zhang
Abstract Reactive nitrogen (Nr) is crucial for food, fibre, and biofuel production.
Meanwhile, it is a critical pollutant with multiple impacts on air/water quality,
biodiversity, and human health. Human activities have resulted in Nr input exceeding the safe planetary boundary over twice and emitted a large amount of Nr gases to
the atmosphere, especially in China which faces serious air pollution. China consumes one third of global Nr and emits an even larger proportion of Nr to the
environment. Here we updated the nitrogen (N) budget in China from 1980 to 2015
based on our previous works, in which both natural and anthropogenic Nr uses,
losses, and transferring among 14 subsystems were evaluated. Results demonstrated
that more than tripling of Nr creation through human activities was found with an
even larger increase in Nr losses to the environment, threatening the health of human
and ecosystems and reducing the sustainability of agriculture in China. Total Nr
emission in 2015 was more than tripled over the past 35 years, during which the NO x
emissions saw a decline after 2011, while the emissions of NH 3 and N 2 O were on the
rise. Hotspots of Nr emissions were found in regions such as North China Plain and
Sichuan Basin with the Nr emission intensities ten times higher than in other regions.
Agriculture contributes to 90% of total NH 3 emission; fossil fuel combustion is
responsible for 90% of total NO x emissions on average in recent decade; agricultural
(59%) and natural sources (mainly forest and surface water, 32%) together dominate
the N 2 O emission in China.
This chapter is an update of the work by Gu et al. (2015).
B. Gu (*)
Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
e-mail: bjgu@zju.edu.cn
X. Zhang
School of Agriculture and Food, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Liu, E. Du (eds.), Atmospheric Reactive Nitrogen in China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8514-8_5
87
Reactive Nitrogen Budgets in China
Baojing Gu and Xiuming Zhang
Abstract Reactive nitrogen (Nr) is crucial for food, fibre, and biofuel production.
Meanwhile, it is a critical pollutant with multiple impacts on air/water quality,
biodiversity, and human health. Human activities have resulted in Nr input exceeding the safe planetary boundary over twice and emitted a large amount of Nr gases to
the atmosphere, especially in China which faces serious air pollution. China consumes one third of global Nr and emits an even larger proportion of Nr to the
environment. Here we updated the nitrogen (N) budget in China from 1980 to 2015
based on our previous works, in which both natural and anthropogenic Nr uses,
losses, and transferring among 14 subsystems were evaluated. Results demonstrated
that more than tripling of Nr creation through human activities was found with an
even larger increase in Nr losses to the environment, threatening the health of human
and ecosystems and reducing the sustainability of agriculture in China. Total Nr
emission in 2015 was more than tripled over the past 35 years, during which the NO x
emissions saw a decline after 2011, while the emissions of NH 3 and N 2 O were on the
rise. Hotspots of Nr emissions were found in regions such as North China Plain and
Sichuan Basin with the Nr emission intensities ten times higher than in other regions.
Agriculture contributes to 90% of total NH 3 emission; fossil fuel combustion is
responsible for 90% of total NO x emissions on average in recent decade; agricultural
(59%) and natural sources (mainly forest and surface water, 32%) together dominate
the N 2 O emission in China.
This chapter is an update of the work by Gu et al. (2015).
B. Gu (*)
Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
e-mail: bjgu@zju.edu.cn
X. Zhang
School of Agriculture and Food, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Liu, E. Du (eds.), Atmospheric Reactive Nitrogen in China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8514-8_5
87