A mechanistic treatment of the dominant soil nitrogen cycling processes: Model development, testing, and application

The broad impact of NO and N2O gas emissions on climate change are widely recognized [e.g., Mosier,1998; Vitousek et al., 1997], as are the effects of NO3
water contamination on human health [e.g., Kapoor and Viraraghavan, 1997] and eutrophication [e.g., Cloern, 2001]. Methods for evaluating the impacts of climate change, and fertilizer and water application techniques onN losses in agriculture are needed for both scientific investigations and management to limit N losses [e.g., Mosier et al., 1996; Matson et al., 1998; Subbarao et al., 2006]. In view of the needs for future increases in crop yield for food,fiber, and biofuel production, understanding the processes that regulate losses of solute and gaseous N species assumes even greater importance.