Increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is known to reduce plant diversity in natural and semi‐natural ecosystems, yet our understanding of these impacts comes almost entirely from studies in northern Europe and North America. Currently, we lack an understanding of the threat of N deposition to biodiversity at the global scale. In particular, rates of N deposition within the newly defined 34 world biodiversity hotspots,...

Summary Accurate estimates for the size of terrestrial organic carbon (C) stores are needed to determine their importance in regulating atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. The C stored in vegetation and soil components of a British moorland was evaluated in order to: (i) investigate the importance of these ecosystems for C storage and (ii) test the accuracy of the United Kingdom's terrestrial C inventory. The area of vegetation a...

A new warming technique has been developed in a field experimental study of the potential effects of climatic change on N leaching from hill land plant/soil systems. Thermocouple compensating cable has been utilized to provide a small cross‐section, flexible, low voltage heating cable, mounted on a framework of stainless steel mesh, to provide uniform heating at the vegetation/soil interface of zero‐tension lysimeters and surr...

The impact of climate change on N leaching from hill land plant/soil systems was investigated using a transplant technique involving the movement of intact lysimeter cores of three contrasting soil types down an altitudinal gradient at Great Dun Fell, Cumbria. Air and soil temperatures and precipitation were monitored at four elevations down an altitudinal transect using automatic weather stations for a period of two years. Th...