In the article, “The crucial link between air pollution and biodiversity loss”, he highlighted the importance of ammonia emissions that come from agriculture, through the spreading of manures, slurries and fertilisers.
Kevin explained: ‘Let’s say you have a pig; the pig produces manure, which produces ammonia. That ammonia can then go straight up in the air and destroy the woodland next door.
‘Or the ammonia could go up into the atmosphere and be reduced to an ammonium ion, it could then combine with some oxidised nitrogen from the back of a car and form ammonium nitrate, and that could fall onto a bog and cause a competition effect between the plants there.
‘That same molecule could then leave the ecosystem through a stream, and it could travel right down into the sea, causing ocean dead-zones, and from there it can be transformed back into nitrogen and go back into the atmosphere ready to start again.’
