Atmospheric ammonia and nitrogen deposition on Irish Natura 2000 sites: Implications for Irish agriculture

Ireland, alongside the rest of the world is facing a struggle balancing emissions from agricultural production and protecting biodiversity. The issue of concern is primarily related to ammonia emissions and subsequent deposition of nitrogen, which impacts many terrestrial habitats across the world. This work arising from co-funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in Ireland monitored for the first time ammonia concentrations on legally protected Natura 2000 sites. Unfortunately, on all but one, sites were receiving levels of pollution which would cause an impact. Protecting these sites from such impacts should be a key concern of authorities moving forward, and actions should be taken not to just limit emissions but to ensure that concentration and deposition of pollutants are reduced on sensitive habitats.

This work has been published open-source, and is available here: (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118611

Or is available through the UCD Research Repository here: (opens in a new window)https://researchrepository.ucd.ie/handle/10197/12329