BALTIMORE, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A Johns Hopkins University study of land around the Chesapeake Bay area suggests a nitrogen cycle imbalance is damaging water quality and fish.
Researchers led by Johns Hopkins Professor Grace Brush studied the organisms and materials preserved in sediments in Chesapeake Bay spanning 1,000 to 14,000 years. They also used historical records covering the past 300 years, to trace the history of changes to nitrogen loading in the estuary.
She found population growth, agricultural expansion and urbanization have released nitrogen from the land and moved it into Chesapeake Bay, reducing the area' s ecosystem through reduced concentrations of oxygen in the bay.
"The future of the Chesapeake and coastal regions in general will depend very much on the recognition of the importance of nitrogen removal for goals other than restoring the fishery …" said Brush.
Her research is detailed online in the journal Estuaries and Coasts.
