Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands

Carlson, Kimberly M.; Gerber, James; Mueller, Nathaniel D.; Herrero, Mario; MacDonald, Graham K.; Brauman, Kate A.; Havlík, Petr; O’Connell, Christine; Johnson, Justin A.; Saatchi, Sassan; West, Paul

doi:10.1038/nclimate3158

Cited by 530 publications

(282 citation statements)

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“…Bouwman's estimate for manure nitrogen applied to cropland is higher than our estimate, mainly due to the consideration of more refined manure management in different livestock production systems from our study. Gerber et al (2016) and Carlson et al (2017) suggested that only 7.4-7.8 Tg N yr −1 was applied to cropland, which is lower than our estimate. One big difference between our study and Gerber et al (2016) and Carlson et al (2017) is that we include the managed manure lost through leaching.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Studiescontrasting

confidence: 54%

“…Gerber et al (2016) and Carlson et al (2017) suggested that only 7.4-7.8 Tg N yr −1 was applied to cropland, which is lower than our estimate. One big difference between our study and Gerber et al (2016) and Carlson et al (2017) is that we include the managed manure lost through leaching. Since their studies tried to estimate greenhouse gas emissions, it might be appropriate to remove all the lost N through different pathways, including leaching.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Studiescontrasting

confidence: 54%

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Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Zhang

Tian

Lü

et al. 2017

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

162

125

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Abstract. Given the important role of nitrogen input from livestock systems in terrestrial nutrient cycles and the atmospheric chemical composition, it is vital to have a robust estimation of the magnitude and spatiotemporal variation in manure nitrogen production and its application to cropland across the globe. In this study, we used the dataset from the Global Livestock Impact Mapping System (GLIMS) in conjunction with country-specific annual livestock populations to reconstruct the manure nitrogen production during 1860-2014. The estimated manure nitrogen production increased from 21.4 Tg N yr −1 in 1860 to 131.0 Tg N yr −1 in 2014 with a significant annual increasing trend (0.7 Tg N yr −1 , p < 0.01). Changes in manure nitrogen production exhibited high spatial variability and concentrated in several hotspots (e.g., Western Europe, India, northeastern China, and southeastern Australia) across the globe over the study period. In the 1860s, the northern midlatitude region was the largest manure producer, accounting for ∼ 52 % of the global total, while low-latitude regions became the largest share (∼ 48 %) in the most recent 5 years (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014). Among all the continents, Asia accounted for over one-fourth of the global manure production during 1860-2014. Cattle dominated the manure nitrogen production and contributed ∼ 44 % of the total manure nitrogen production in 2014, followed by goats, sheep, swine, and chickens. The manure nitrogen application to cropland accounts for less than one-fifth of the total manure nitrogen production over the study period. The 5 arcmin gridded global dataset of manure nitrogen production generated from this study could be used as an input for global or regional land surface and ecosystem models to evaluate the impacts of manure nitrogen on key biogeochemical processes and water quality. To ensure food security and environmental sustainability, it is necessary to implement proper manure management practices on cropland across the globe. Datasets are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.871980 .

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Section: Comparison With Previous Studiescontrasting

confidence: 54%

Section: Comparison With Previous Studiescontrasting

confidence: 54%

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Zhang

Tian

Lü

et al. 2017

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

162

125

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“…Fires and drainage are two most important disturbances to peatland, causing substantial emissions of CO 2 from peatlands (Benscoter & Wieder, 2003; Carlson et al, 2016). Although neither of them is investigated in this study, there is no doubt that peatland protection and restoration are important climate change mitigation strategies (Leifeld & Menichetti, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of northern peatlands in the global carbon cycle for the 21st century

Qiu

Zhu

Ciais

et al. 2020

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Persistent sinks of atmospheric CO2 in undisturbed peatlands are not included in future projections of the global carbon budget. We aimed to explore possible responses of northern peatlands to future climate change and to quantify the role of northern peatlands in the carbon balance of the Northern Hemisphere. Location The terrestrial Northern Hemisphere (>30° N). Time period 1861–2099. Major taxa studied Not a specific plant species, but a plant functional type is used by the model to represent an average of all vegetation growing in northern peatlands. Methods The ORCHIDEE‐PEAT v.2.0 process‐based land surface model was used to simulate area and carbon dynamics of northern peatlands. The model was driven up to the year 2099 by the global CO2 concentration from representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 2.6, 6.0 and 8.5 by corresponding climate projections from two general circulation models after bias correction. Results First, from 1861 to 2005 the mean annual carbon balance of northern peatlands was an atmospheric CO2 sink of 0.10 PgC/year, and this sink will roughly double in the future under both RCP2.6 and RCP6.0, whereas the total northern peatlands will be either a source of CO2 (IPSL‐CM5A‐LR) or near neutral (GFDL‐ESM2M) by the end of the century under RCP8.5. Second, the peatlands in western Canada, western and northern Europe may experience reducing areas and may shift from being CO2 sinks to sources, especially under rapid climate warming. Third, peatland enhances soil carbon accumulation in the Northern Hemisphere (lands north of 30° N). Main conclusions In this study, future changes in both northern peatland extent and peatland carbon storage are simulated. We highlight that undisturbed northern peatlands are small but persistent carbon sinks in the future; thus, it is important to protect these ecosystems.

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“…This new county‐scale dataset of R ijt was then resampled into a 1 km grid map based on the dynamic cropland distributions (Liu et al, ). We assumed a maximum N‐fertilizer application rate of 700 kg N/ha based on a previous study (Carlson et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weakened growth of cropland‐N₂O emissions in China associated with nationwide policy interventions

Shang

Zhou

Smith

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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China has experienced rapid agricultural development over recent decades, accompanied by increased fertilizer consumption in croplands; yet, the trend and drivers of the associated nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions remain uncertain. The primary sources of this uncertainty are the coarse spatial variation of activity data and the incomplete model representation of N2O emissions in response to agricultural management. Here, we provide new data‐driven estimates of cropland‐N2O emissions across China in 1990–2014, compiled using a global cropland‐N2O flux observation dataset, nationwide survey‐based reconstruction of N‐fertilization and irrigation, and an updated nonlinear model. In addition, we have evaluated the drivers behind changing cropland‐N2O patterns using an index decomposition analysis approach. We find that China's annual cropland‐N2O emissions increased on average by 11.2 Gg N/year2 (p < .001) from 1990 to 2003, after which emissions plateaued until 2014 (2.8 Gg N/year2, p = .02), consistent with the output from an ensemble of process‐based terrestrial biosphere models. The slowdown of the increase in cropland‐N2O emissions after 2003 was pervasive across two thirds of China's sowing areas. This change was mainly driven by the nationwide reduction in N‐fertilizer applied per area, partially due to the prevalence of nationwide technological adoptions. This reduction has almost offset the N2O emissions induced by policy‐driven expansion of sowing areas, particularly in the Northeast Plain and the lower Yangtze River Basin. Our results underline the importance of high‐resolution activity data and adoption of nonlinear model of N2O emission for capturing cropland‐N2O emission changes. Improving the representation of policy interventions is also recommended for future projections.

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Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands

Cited by 530 publications

References 50 publications

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

The role of northern peatlands in the global carbon cycle for the 21st century

Weakened growth of cropland‐N₂O emissions in China associated with nationwide policy interventions

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Greenhouse gas emissions intensity of global croplands

Cited by 530 publications

References 50 publications

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

The role of northern peatlands in the global carbon cycle for the 21st century

Weakened growth of cropland‐N2O emissions in China associated with nationwide policy interventions

Contact Info

Product

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Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Global manure nitrogen production and application in cropland during 1860–2014: a 5 arcmin gridded global dataset for Earth system modeling

Weakened growth of cropland‐N₂O emissions in China associated with nationwide policy interventions