Nitrogen as the source of acidification threats to coastal ecoystems

Intensified acidification in coasts and estuarines

Bringing on from my last post about non-carbon sources of ocean acidification, I found a detail study on the effects of nitrogen as the source of pollution on various ecosystems in northeastern United States by Driscoll et al. (2003). One of the nitrogen pollution threats they documented is the disastrous effects of nutrient enrichment and eutrophication through nitrogen loading on many coastal ecoystems in NE USA, further supporting Kelly et al., (2011)'s argument on the intensification of the coastal localised acidification hot spots. These threats include harmful toxic algal bloom in coastal ecoystems have destroyed habitats of many coastal marine species such as the loss of eelgrass and can potentially cause major changes in ecosystem structure e.g. slower recovery of benthic-dominated systems to eutrophication than phytoplankton-dominated systems. Driscoll et al (2003) have also documented increased acidity in different surface water bodies in the region, which further increases the vulnerability of the coastal ecosystems to acidification.