Our last workshop on "Advancing Methods for Measuring Denitrification in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems" was held May 27 - 30, 2008. Please see more on the workshop page.Denitrification BlogPlease visit the Denitrification blog at http://denitrification.blogspot.com (you will need a Google account to join) to post and review comments, questions and more with others interested in denitrification. Thanks to Wendy Yang and Philip Taylor for initiating this blog at the second Denitrification RCN workshop. |
NSF's Denitrification Research Coordination Network (RCN)
This project began in 2005 with the overall objective of creating a community of denitrification scientists from a wide array of disciplines, from molecular biology to ecosystem science, and from soil science to oceanography. Despite many denitrification studies, only a few locations have measurements adequate to quantify rates or to understand factors controlling denitrification at the ecosystem scale. The focus of activities of the Denitrification RCN is to advance across the range of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on earth: 1) quantification of denitrification rates, 2) development of quantitative, process-based relationships between rates of denitrification and controlling factors, and 3) production of spatially explicit, process-based models that can be used to scale-up site specific measurements to ecosystem, regional and global scales.
While the Denitrification RCN has just been established, our long-term (10-15 year) vision is to have spatially explicit maps of denitrification rates for the entire earth system under current conditions, as well as past and hypothetical (future) scenarios. Toward that objective the RCN will:
- Facilitate the sharing of recent methodological advances in denitrification m
- easurement and models
- Stimulate additional methodological improvements
- Enhance coordination of research activities and facilitate new joint research programs in under-sampled ecosystems and geographical regions
- Promote synthesis and integration at various scales
- Catalyze and stimulate interaction of scientists with policy-makers and managers on denitrification issues of concern to society
NEWS:April 2008. UMCES-led research team quantifies nutrient pollution reductions from urban stream restoration »A team of researchers led by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researcher Dr. Sujay Kaushal has been among the first able to quantify the amount of excess nitrogen removed from an urban stream during environmental restoration projects. This breakthrough allows environmental managers to assess the pollution-reducing benefits of storm water management and urban stream restoration, and could lead to new nitrogen reduction opportunities as public works managers make repairs to our nation's aging urban infrastructure. |