Increasing levels of nitrogen deposition associated with
industry and agriculture can drive soils toward a toxic level of
acidification, reducing plant growth and polluting surface
waters, according to a new study published online in Nature
Geoscience. The study, conducted in the Tatra Mountains of
Slovakia by the University of Colorado, University of Montana,
Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Geological Survey,
shows what can happen when nitrogen deposition in any part of
the world increases to certain levels—levels similar to those
projected to occur in parts of Europe by 2050, according to some
global change models. On the basis of these results, the authors
warn that the high levels of nitrogen deposited in Europe and
North America over the past half century already may have left
many soils susceptible to this new stage of acidification. The
results of this further acidification, wrote the authors, are
highly reduced soil fertility and leaching of acids and toxic
metals into surface waters. A long