IBL Research Regional to Global C and N Cycles IBL personnel are also involved in several research projects and synthetic activities related to the rapidly changing global carbon and nitrogen cycles. These include modeling studies of the effects of N deposition on terrestrial carbon storage, and of tropical forest carbon balance in recent decades. Additional details on these projects can be found in the publications page. One recent focus of the lab has been on the human health effects of a changing N cycle (see here for more details on environmental change and health). An overview of this issue can be found in a recent paper, and more recent work includes contributions to a SCOPE Rapid Assessment Program on Biodiversity and Human Health, the results of which will be published in July 2007. Highlights of this effort were also presented in a symposium at the 2006 ESA meeting. Alan Townsend is also participating in the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) by serving as Director of the North American Nitrogen Center (NANC), one of five INI regional centers. The NANC, established early in 2004, is one of five globally distributed centers of the International Nitrogen Initiative sponsored by the International Council of Science (ICSU) through the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP). Globally, the nitrogen cycle is the most altered of any major element cycle. Human activity has doubled the rate of formation of reactive nitrogen over natural rates on the land surfaces of the Earth. The change is recent and rapid, making accelerated nitrogen cycling one of the most immediate and consequential facets of global change. The North American Nitrogen Center is charged with assessing how human activity has altered nitrogen flows within North America, determining the consequences of this alteration, and helping to develop solutions to reduce the problem. For more details on the INI and NANC, please visit their websites.