A spatially explicit methodology to quantify soil nutrient balances and their uncertainties at the national level

Lesschen, J.P.; Stoorvogel, J.J.; Smaling, E.M.A.; Heuvelink, G.B.M.; Veldkamp, A.

doi:10.1007/s10705-006-9078-y

Cited by 95 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Large disparities between agronomic P inputs and outputs pose major challenges for long-term management of water quality and agricultural productivity at all scales. However, regional agronomic P imbalances are difficult to address because they represent the aggregate effects of many complex factors, including nutrient management decisions by individual farmers, socioeconomic conditions, government policies, and environmental setting (4,12,33).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bouwman et al (19) used a more conservative estimate of agricultural P loss via runoff and leaching based on 10% of total P inputs (roughly 2.4 Tg of P·y −1 using our estimates). Accounting for P losses from soils to water in areas with small P surpluses, such as sub-Saharan Africa, would possibly lead to results of small deficits in many locations, reflecting the small P deficits typically found in studies that considered P losses in that region (10,12,33). Occlusion of P in soils to less plant-available forms may also limit the effectiveness of surplus agronomic P to supplement crop growth, especially in highly weathered and P-limited tropical soils, such as those in parts of Brazil and East Africa (28), which may partially explain lower PUE in these areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used crop-specific P content and dry matter content of grains or harvested portions for 80 crops from the US Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (47), and averages based on crop groups for 14 crops when crop-specific P contents were unavailable. For the remaining crops where P data were not available from this source, we used P contents from IFA (48) and Lesschen et al (33) and dry matter contents from…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

MacDonald

Bennett

Potter

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

715

462

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Increased phosphorus (P) fertilizer use and livestock production has fundamentally altered the global P cycle. We calculated spatially explicit P balances for cropland soils at 0.5°resolution based on the principal agronomic P inputs and outputs associated with production of 123 crops globally for the year 2000. Although agronomic inputs of P fertilizer (14.2 Tg of P·y −1 ) and manure (9.6 Tg of P·y −1 ) collectively exceeded P removal by harvested crops (12.3 Tg of P·y −1 ) at the global scale, P deficits covered almost 30% of the global cropland area. There was massive variation in the magnitudes of these P imbalances across most regions, particularly Europe and South America. High P fertilizer application relative to crop P use resulted in a greater proportion of the intense P surpluses (>13 kg of P·ha −1 ·y −1 ) globally than manure P application. High P fertilizer application was also typically associated with areas of relatively low P-use efficiency. Although manure was an important driver of P surpluses in some locations with high livestock densities, P deficits were common in areas producing forage crops used as livestock feed. Resolving agronomic P imbalances may be possible with more efficient use of P fertilizers and more effective recycling of manure P. Such reforms are needed to increase global agricultural productivity while maintaining or improving freshwater quality.agriculture | eutrophication | nutrient balances | phosphorus depletion D isparities between the nutrients applied to agricultural soils via fertilizer or manure and the nutrients removed by harvested crops result in nutrient imbalances that can influence environmental quality and productivity of agricultural systems (1). Growing consumption of inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizers derived from mining of nonrenewable phosphate rock (2) has contributed to major increases in crop yields since the 1950s (3). Concurrent growth in fertilizer use and livestock production has more than tripled global P flows to the biosphere over preindustrial levels (4), resulting in P accumulation in some agricultural soils that acts as a driver of eutrophication in freshwater and coastal systems (5-7). At the same time, limited availability of P fertilizers in other regions has contributed to prolonged P deficits that can deplete soil P and limit crop yields (8-10). Although agricultural P surpluses and deficits have been documented for several regions (e.g., refs. 11 and 12), there is still limited understanding of the spatial patterns of P imbalances at the global scale.Patterns of nutrient imbalances across agricultural systems may reflect contrasting agricultural practices, economic development, and broader agricultural policies (1, 13). Understanding agricultural P use is key to managing global phosphate rock reserves (14) and mitigating the risk for potentially irreversible eutrophication of lakes (15). Despite considerable advances in the development of spatially explicit global nitrogen balances (e.g., ref. 16), most previous global P balance studi...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

MacDonald

Bennett

Potter

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

715

462

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A possible improvement in estimating the amount of nitrogen lost through leaching would be to use more advanced models such as De Willigen (2000) regression model. This model has been used by a number of studies including FAO (Roy et al 2003), Smaling et al (2008) in the Brazilian soybean agriculture study, Haileslassie et al (2007) in the nutrient flows and balance study in the central highland of Ethiopia, and Lesschen et al (2007) in the soil nutrient balance study in Burkina Faso. Most recently, have shown the application of the model in a highresolution assessment of global nitrogen flows in cropland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global and high-resolution assessment of the green, blue and grey water footprint of wheat

Mekonnen

Hoekstra

2010

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

324

206

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Abstract. The aim of this study is to estimate the green, blue and grey water footprint of wheat in a spatially-explicit way, both from a production and consumption perspective. The assessment is global and improves upon earlier research by taking a high-resolution approach, estimating the water footprint of the crop at a 5 by 5 arc minute grid. We have used a grid-based dynamic water balance model to calculate crop water use over time, with a time step of one day. The model takes into account the daily soil water balance and climatic conditions for each grid cell. In addition, the water pollution associated with the use of nitrogen fertilizer in wheat production is estimated for each grid cell. We have used the water footprint and virtual water flow assessment framework as in the guideline of the Water Footprint Network.The global wheat production in the period 1996-2005 required about 108 billion cubic meters of water per year. The major portion of this water (70%) comes from green water, about 19% comes from blue water, and the remaining 11% is grey water. The global average water footprint of wheat per ton of crop was 1830 m 3 /ton. About 18% of the water footprint related to the production of wheat is meant not for domestic consumption but for export. About 55% of the virtual water export comes from the USA, Canada and Australia alone. For the period 1996-2005, the global average water saving from international trade in wheat products was 65 Gm 3 /yr.A relatively large total blue water footprint as a result of wheat production is observed in the Ganges and Indus river basins, which are known for their water stress problems. The two basins alone account for about 47% of the blue water footprint related to global wheat production. About 93% of the water footprint of wheat consumption in Japan lies in other countries, particularly the USA, Australia and Canada.Correspondence to: M. M. Mekonnen (m.m.mekonnen@ctw.utwente.nl) In Italy, with an average wheat consumption of 150 kg/yr per person, more than two times the word average, about 44% of the total water footprint related to this wheat consumption lies outside Italy. The major part of this external water footprint of Italy lies in France and the USA.

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“…Spatial correlation Given the limited availability of data on spatial correlations, these correlations have been included in a pragmatic way as used by Lesschen et al (2007) and Kros et al (2012). For the sub-national level, we assumed that within each sub-national region, the spatial correlation equals 1.…”

Section: Probability Distribution Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

et al. 2015

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The global animal food chain has a large contribution to the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but its share and sources vary highly across the world. However, the assessment of GHG emissions from livestock production is subject to various uncertainties, which have not yet been well quantified at large spatial scale. We assessed the uncertainties in the relations between animal production (milk, meat, egg) and the CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O emissions in Africa, Latin America and the European Union, using the MITERRA-Global model. The uncertainties in model inputs were derived from time series of statistical data, literature review or expert knowledge. These model inputs and parameters were further divided into nine groups based on type of data and affected greenhouse gas. The final model output uncertainty and the uncertainty contribution of each group of model inputs to the uncertainty were quantified using a Monte Carlo approach, taking into account their spatial and cross-correlation. GHG emissions and their uncertainties were determined per livestock sector, per product and per emission source category. Results show large variation in the GHG emissions and their uncertainties for different continents, livestock sectors products or source categories. The uncertainty of total GHG emissions from livestock sectors is higher in Africa and Latin America than in the European Union. The uncertainty of CH 4 emission is lower than that for N 2 O and CO 2 . Livestock parameters, CH 4 emission factors and N emission factors contribute most to the uncertainty in the total model output. The reliability of GHG emissions from livestock sectors is relatively high (low uncertainty) at continental level, but could be lower at country level.

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A spatially explicit methodology to quantify soil nutrient balances and their uncertainties at the national level

Cited by 95 publications

References 33 publications

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

A global and high-resolution assessment of the green, blue and grey water footprint of wheat

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

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