Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective

Abstract Nutrient balance is critical for sustainable land management, yet information scarcity hampers its systematic evaluation of trade-offs among alternate land uses. We employed a detailed regional nutrient dataset collected from 70 monitoring sites over 16 years to conduct a comprehensive anal...

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Main Authors: Vahid Sobhi Gollo, Mehdi H. Afshar, Dani Or, Nima Shokri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-06-01
Series:npj Sustainable Agriculture
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00076-y
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author Vahid Sobhi Gollo
Mehdi H. Afshar
Dani Or
Nima Shokri
author_facet Vahid Sobhi Gollo
Mehdi H. Afshar
Dani Or
Nima Shokri
author_sort Vahid Sobhi Gollo
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Nutrient balance is critical for sustainable land management, yet information scarcity hampers its systematic evaluation of trade-offs among alternate land uses. We employed a detailed regional nutrient dataset collected from 70 monitoring sites over 16 years to conduct a comprehensive analysis of yields, nutrient balances and greenhouse gas emissions associated with different land management practices in Lower Saxony, Germany. The information was used to develop land use transformation scenarios while assessing their impacts on regional nutrient balances and emissions. Our analysis demonstrated that organic farming exhibited lower nutrient surpluses but also lower yields compared to conventional systems, while grazing systems showed the highest nutrient outputs. A comparison with other regional studies highlights the importance of unique combinations of climate, soil, management practices, and socioeconomic settings in developing sustainable land management strategies – a global perspective, while useful in setting goals, may not capture local needs specific to this combination of factors.
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spelling doaj-art-c7a190ebe4e44d69bcd990750d9a8d552025-08-20T02:30:59ZengNature Portfolionpj Sustainable Agriculture2731-92022025-06-01311710.1038/s44264-025-00076-yImpacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspectiveVahid Sobhi Gollo0Mehdi H. Afshar1Dani Or2Nima Shokri3Institute of Geo-Hydroinformatics, Hamburg University of TechnologyInstitute of Geo-Hydroinformatics, Hamburg University of TechnologyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada RenoInstitute of Geo-Hydroinformatics, Hamburg University of TechnologyAbstract Nutrient balance is critical for sustainable land management, yet information scarcity hampers its systematic evaluation of trade-offs among alternate land uses. We employed a detailed regional nutrient dataset collected from 70 monitoring sites over 16 years to conduct a comprehensive analysis of yields, nutrient balances and greenhouse gas emissions associated with different land management practices in Lower Saxony, Germany. The information was used to develop land use transformation scenarios while assessing their impacts on regional nutrient balances and emissions. Our analysis demonstrated that organic farming exhibited lower nutrient surpluses but also lower yields compared to conventional systems, while grazing systems showed the highest nutrient outputs. A comparison with other regional studies highlights the importance of unique combinations of climate, soil, management practices, and socioeconomic settings in developing sustainable land management strategies – a global perspective, while useful in setting goals, may not capture local needs specific to this combination of factors.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00076-y
spellingShingle Vahid Sobhi Gollo
Mehdi H. Afshar
Dani Or
Nima Shokri
Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
npj Sustainable Agriculture
title Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
title_full Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
title_fullStr Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
title_short Impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions: a regional perspective
title_sort impacts of land use change on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions a regional perspective
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00076-y
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