Excess nitrogen can cause ecologically damaging effects in large waterways, include algeal blooms, because the nutrients are transported downstream and collect there. Peterson is one of more than a dozen researchers who contributed to the Science paper. He noted that the findings are unique because they were produced by research teams working in a coordinated and identical fashion nationwide under the same research protocol.
Many people study nitrogen cycling, but they all tend to do their own experiments.
Collaboration is the key to developing a general understanding of ecosystems. Peterson notes that, collectively, the new studies provide a radically different picture of the role of small streams in contributing to existing nutrient loading. It's been difficult to understand how dynamic the stream system itself is. By placing tracers in smaller streams, the researchers discovered how quickly nutrients were assimilated and processed by organisms that live on the streambeds. Peterson argues that the finding could have important implications for land use policies.