Understanding the nitrogen cycle is increasingly important. Humans have more than doubled the annual global production of reactive nitrogen, negatively impacting
water quality, and terrestrial and coastal ecosystems.
Agricultural activity is a major source of anthropogenic
reactive nitrogen. It accounts for 75% of anthropogenic
fixed nitrogen and comes primarily from the production
of nitrogen fertilisers.
However, a poor understanding of the nitrogen cycle
in agricultural environments results in the loss of nearly
three quarters of agricultural nitrogen to water and the
atmosphere rather than contributing to food production. Nitrification and denitrification play key roles in
the loss of agricultural nitrogen. Nitrification transforms
ammonium to nitrate. Nitrate is the form of fixed nitrogen which is most readily lost, via denitrification in gaseous forms, or as dissolved nitrate exported in st
