Nitrous Oxide News and Research

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Soil pH Influences Microbial Community Formation and Nitrogen Cycling

Though a founding concept of ecology suggests that the physical environment determines where organisms can survive, modern scientists have suspected there is more to the story of how microbial communities form in the soil.

15 Sep 2024

Marine Bacteria Offers Eco-Friendly Nitrogen Source

According to recent research published in npj Sustainable Agriculture, Rhodovulum sulfidophilum, a purple photosynthetic marine bacterium, can be used to make biomass, which is a highly effective nitrogen fertilizer.

24 Jun 2024

Nature-Powered Nutrient Recovery: UW-Madison Develops Innovative Manure Processing Technique

An interdisciplinary team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists has developed a new technique that could help farmers extract useful nutrients such as ammonia and potassium from livestock manure to efficiently make fertilizer and other useful chemical products.

13 Dec 2023

New Insight Into the Physiology of NO-Reducing Microorganisms

Nitric oxide (NO) is a central molecule in the global cycling of nitrogen, and also toxic. Little is known about if and how microbes can use NO as a substrate for growth.

11 Jul 2023

Knowledge-guided machine learning model could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

A team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota has significantly improved the performance of numerical predictions for agricultural nitrous oxide emissions.

3 May 2022

Rutgers researchers team up to develop and produce lab-grown, structured meats

A pair of Rutgers researchers are teaming up to combat climate change and worldwide hunger at the same time.

From Rutgers University 21 Apr 2022

UC Riverside scientists aim to find how some fungi and bacteria manage to thrive post-wildfires

Scientists have found microbes living in the charred soil that wildfires leave behind. They don't know how some fungi and bacteria manage to thrive when everything else has died, but a new project aims to change that.

31 Mar 2022

World Soil Day: An Interview with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

For World Soil Day, we spoke to Ronald Vargas from the FAO, about the importance of soil health and the need to raise awareness surrounding it.

From Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 3 Dec 2021

Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils contribute to climate change

Poorly drained agricultural soils emit enough of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide that the resulting climate change effects could far exceed the benefits of using the same soils as a means of sequestering carbon, according to a recently published scientific study.

9 Nov 2021

New study helps figure out how agricultural runoff contributes to global warming

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, with 300 times the warming ability of carbon dioxide. Due to fertilizer runoff from farm fields, an increasing load of nitrogen is washing into rivers and streams, where nitrogen-breathing microbes break some of the fertilizer down into N2O, which the river releases into the atmosphere as it tumbles toward the ocean.

20 Oct 2021

Study finds higher levels of air pollutants in regions near oil and gas wells

In a 14-year analysis of air quality across California, Stanford researchers observed higher levels of air pollutants within 2.5 miles of oil and gas wells, likely worsening negative health outcomes for nearby residents.

13 Oct 2021

Exploring sunn hemp and its numerous ecological benefits

Sunn hemp is a superhero in the plant world. And it is a powerful solution to many agricultural challenges related to degradation of natural resources and food security. The October 7th, 2021 Sustainable, Secure Food Blog explores more this plant that can grow in inhospitable environments yet still provide numerous ecological benefits.

11 Oct 2021

UC Riverside scientists aim to turn edible plants into mRNA vaccine factories

The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.

17 Sep 2021

Growing wheat endowed with biological nitrification inhibition raises productivity, quality

An international collaboration has discovered and transferred to elite wheat varieties a wild-grass chromosome segment that causes roots to secrete natural inhibitors of nitrification, offering a way to dial back on heavy fertilizer use for wheat and to reduce the crop's nitrogen leakage into waterways and air, while maintaining or raising its productivity and grain quality, says a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

3 Sep 2021

Profound changes in human behavior can meet the challenges of climate emergency

In a year marked by unprecedented flooding, deadly avalanches, and scorching heat waves and wildfires, the climate emergency's enormous cost—whether measured in lost resources or human lives—is all too apparent.

28 Jul 2021

Keeping more nitrogen in soil can minimize environmental damage associated with intensive agriculture

Modern-day agriculture faces two major dilemmas: how to produce enough food to feed the growing human population and how to minimize environmental damage associated with intensive agriculture. Keeping more nitrogen in soil as ammonium may be one key way to address both challenges, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

28 May 2021

New iron-nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst could reduce harmful air pollutants

Our reliance on fossil fuels as a primary energy source has pushed air pollution to an all-time high, resulting in several environmental and health concerns. Among the major pollutants, nitrogen oxide (NOx) accumulation can cause severe respiratory diseases and imbalance in the Earth's nitrogen cycle. Reducing NOx accumulation is, therefore, an issue of utmost importance.

21 May 2021

Climate-smart practices may reduce greenhouse gas emissions from corn production

For corn, using dairy manure and legume cover crops in crop rotations can reduce the need for inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and protect water quality, but these practices also can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide -- a potent greenhouse gas.

23 Apr 2021

Raising water levels in agricultural peatlands could reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Substantial cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved by raising water levels in agricultural peatlands, according to a new study in the journal Nature.

22 Apr 2021

High ozone concentrations decrease crop yield in maize

Although stratospheric ozone protects us by filtering out the sun's ultraviolet radiation, tropospheric ozone is a harmful pollutant. A new study has shown that ozone in the lower layers of the atmosphere decreases crop yields in maize and changes the types of chemicals that are found inside the leaves.

7 Apr 2021