ABSTRACT Inland waters are an important component of the global nitrogen (N) cycle, functioning not only as land-to-sea transporters but also as active biogeochemical reactors. However, the

latter role is not well understood regarding mechanisms, quantities or on a global scale. It remains unclear whether, when, how and why global inland-water biogeochemical N cycling has

changed. Here we analyse the dynamic global inland-water N cycling processes in the Anthropocene by quantifying the long-term changes in different N forms, including their inputs to inland

waters, transformation pathways, retention within inland waters, and river export to oceans. Using a spatially explicit, mechanistic, coupled hydrology and biogeochemistry model, we show

(ON) changed because of threefold increases in global inland-water mineralization (transforming ON to NH4+) and N burial in sediments, a fourfold increase in nitrification (transforming NH4+

to NO_x_−) and a sixfold increase in denitrification (transforming NO_x_− to mainly N2). Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access

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WARMING ON SEDIMENT DENITRIFICATION AND ASSOCIATED NITROUS OXIDE PRODUCTION Article Open access 10 April 2024 THE LAND-TO-OCEAN LOOPS OF THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE Article 16 March 2022

FLUVIAL ORGANIC CARBON CYCLING REGULATED BY SEDIMENT TRANSIT TIME AND MINERAL PROTECTION Article Open access 28 October 2021 DATA AVAILABILITY Source data are archived on figshare at

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24975111 (ref. 105). CODE AVAILABILITY The code of IMAGE–DGNM framework was written in open-source Python (v.3.x) and was previously published; set-up of

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nitrogen cycling has accelerated in the Anthropocene” in _Nature Water_. _figshare_ https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24975111 (2024). Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was

supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the Netherlands Earth System Science Center (J.W. and J.J.M.), the Earth and life sciences (ALW) Open Programme 2016

project no. ALWOP.230 financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (J.W. and L.V.), PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency through in-kind contributions to The

New Delta 2014 ALW projects nos. 869.15.015 and 869.15.014 (A.F.B. and A.H.W.B.) and World Resources Institute and UNESCO project nos 4500462526 and WE.461001.1-P1 (A.F.B. and X.L.). We

acknowledge UU GEO-ICT colleague E. Jens for computer engineering help. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The

Netherlands Junjie Wang, Alexander F. Bouwman, Lauriane Vilmin, Arthur H. W. Beusen, Wim J. van Hoek, Xiaochen Liu & Jack J. Middelburg * Department of Data Science and Water Quality,

Unit of Marine and Coastal Systems, Deltares, Delft, The Netherlands Lauriane Vilmin & Xiaochen Liu * PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague, The Netherlands Arthur

H. W. Beusen Authors * Junjie Wang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alexander F. Bouwman View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Lauriane Vilmin View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Arthur H. W. Beusen View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Wim J. van Hoek View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Xiaochen Liu View author

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CONTRIBUTIONS J.W., J.J.M. and A.F.B. conceptualized the study. J.W. and L.V. developed the DISC–NITROGEN module. A.H.W.B. and L.V. developed the DISC framework. J.W. ran the model

simulations and conducted data analysis. X.L. and W.J.v.H. contributed to important model components. J.W., J.J.M. and A.F.B. prepared the manuscript. All co-authors reviewed the manuscript.

CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Junjie Wang or Xiaochen Liu. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION

_Nature Water_ thanks Steve Frolking and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature

remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. EXTENDED DATA EXTENDED DATA FIG. 1 SCHEME OF N FLOWS AND PROCESSES ACROSS TERRESTRIAL

AND INLAND-WATER SYSTEMS IN THE IMAGE-DGNM MODEL. The N flows and processes and water fluxes link various landscape components (soils, aquifers, riparian zones, streams, rivers, wetlands,

floodplains, lakes, and reservoirs) at the 0.5 by 0.5-degree grid scale in IMAGE-DGNM model. EXTENDED DATA FIG. 2 MODULE SCHEME FOR THE DYNAMIC INLAND-WATER BIOGEOCHEMICAL N CYCLING

(DISC-NITROGEN) IN IMAGE-DGNM. Processes marked with (O2 +) and (O2 -) indicate the coupled production and consumption of oxygen during these processes, respectively. The green arrows marked

with ‘primary production’ in the water column and sediment layer represent gross primary production for pelagic and benthic algae, respectively. Detailed descriptions of the inland-water

biogeochemical processes in Extended Data Fig. 2 can be found in refs. 48,51, together with full lists of associated equations and parameter values, units and reference sources for each

process. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Texts 1–3, Figs. 1–9 and Tables 1–6. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or

other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of

this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Wang, J., Bouwman, A.F., Vilmin,

L. _et al._ Global inland-water nitrogen cycling has accelerated in the Anthropocene. _Nat Water_ 2, 729–740 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00282-x Download citation * Received:

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