Nitrogen pollution identified as major driver of biodiversity loss in UK coastal waters - Project Seagrass

A new study of the British Isles’ coastal ecosystems has revealed that nitrogen enrichment is significantly reducing the abundance and variety of marine life.

The research, published by scientists at Swansea University and the charity Project Seagrass, warns that increasing nutrient flows are overriding local habitat conditions to restructure and deplete coastal biodiversity.

While the Planetary Boundaries for nitrogen and phosphorus flows have already been exceeded globally, this study provides a rare, large-scale assessment of how these nutrients impact the fine-scale diversity of our coastlines.

Factors causing the pollution include sewage, agricultural waste, and poor land management. The study examined seagrass meadows in 16 different marine environments, including estuaries, lagoons, and islands. These ranged from the Orkneys Islands and the Firth of Forth to the Solent and the Island of Skomer.

The findings were stark: higher nitrogen concentrations were consistently associated with a decrease in animal abundance and species richness.

Specifically, the researchers found that an increase of nitrogen could correspond to an approximately 90 per cent decrease in the abundance of life per unit of available habitat area.

Read the research in full in Global Ecology and Conservation.