Home Site Description People Archived Data Publications Photos	Project Background Since the industrial revolution,  the amount of reactive nitrogen (N) deposited from the atmosphere onto terrestrial ecosystems has increased an order of magnitude across large areas of the Northern Hemisphere (e.g., from 50-100 to 1500-2000 mg N m-2 y-1). Human activities in agriculture, transportation, and industry are responsible for this increase. The large additions of atmospheric N have the potential to disrupt many of the fundamental ways in which ecosystems function—ranging from the growth and vigor of trees to the quality of water flowing into our streams and aquifers. The Michigan Nitrogen Deposition Gradient study was established in 1987 to examine the effects of climate and atmospheric deposition on ecosystem processes in the Great Lakes region and continues today with support from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. The purpose of this field experiment is to understand the mechanisms controlling carbon and N cycling in the face of chronic atmospheric N deposition.
	Funding Support                  Research supported by the National Science     Foundation     and the Department of Energy  Research Partners                  University of Idaho     College of Natural Resources     Department of Forest Ecology and Biogeosciences     Michigan Technological University     School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science     University of Michigan     School of Natural Resources and Environment     & Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department  Last Updated: April 2012