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<p>Urea, the world’s predominant nitrogen fertilizer, has supported human population growth for the past 60 years, yet its effects on freshwater ecosystems are largely unknown. Here urea additions at ecologically relevant rates tripled summer phytoplankton abundance in replicate agricultural reservoirs with significant responses by most eukaryotic algae, but not cyanobacteria or their toxins. Mass budgets reveal that fertilized reservoirs did not become limited by phosphorus due to its continuous release from sediments. Further, most added nitrogen did not accumulate in reservoirs but was lost to the atmosphere, probably as NH<sub>3</sub>. Sub-continental spatial analysis shows that study reservoirs are characteristic of shallow water bodies within Canada’s largest agricultural region, where &gt;40% of surface waters are vulnerable to degradation by urea. Similar degrees of water quality loss by urea are expected in other global agricultural regions (for example, China, India, North America) where elevated urea use interacts with phosphorus-rich surface waters to induce extreme eutrophication.</p>

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World’s predominant nitrogen fertilizer induces extreme eutrophication of surface waters in central North America

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月15日

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  • Cale A. C. Gushulak,
  • Amir M. Chegoonian,
  • Jess Lerminiaux,
  • Deirdre Bateson,
  • Viraj Shah,
  • Heather A. Sauer,
  • Mark D. Graham,
  • Chun Ngai Chan,
  • Matthew J. Bogard,
  • Sydney Jensen,
  • Jackie R. Webb,
  • Vanessa J. Swarbrick,
  • Markus Hecker,
  • Yongqiang Zhou,
  • Kerri Finlay,
  • Peter R. Leavitt

摘要

Urea, the world’s predominant nitrogen fertilizer, has supported human population growth for the past 60 years, yet its effects on freshwater ecosystems are largely unknown. Here urea additions at ecologically relevant rates tripled summer phytoplankton abundance in replicate agricultural reservoirs with significant responses by most eukaryotic algae, but not cyanobacteria or their toxins. Mass budgets reveal that fertilized reservoirs did not become limited by phosphorus due to its continuous release from sediments. Further, most added nitrogen did not accumulate in reservoirs but was lost to the atmosphere, probably as NH3. Sub-continental spatial analysis shows that study reservoirs are characteristic of shallow water bodies within Canada’s largest agricultural region, where >40% of surface waters are vulnerable to degradation by urea. Similar degrees of water quality loss by urea are expected in other global agricultural regions (for example, China, India, North America) where elevated urea use interacts with phosphorus-rich surface waters to induce extreme eutrophication.