Herb Handbook
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Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) has substantially risen since the industrial revolution due to significant increases in anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuels and industrialized agriculture. Although emissions, and subsequently deposition, have decreased as a result of regulations such as the Clean Air Act, N and S deposition still remain far higher than preindustrial levels. These elevated levels of N and S deposition serve as major stressors to herbaceous plant populations due to the diverse impacts these stressors can have through acidification and eutrophication process. This report builds off a larger study of 198 herb species and focuses on 52 of these species for which detailed information on ecology and ecosystem services provided are available. We present information on how the probability of occurrence for each species is associated with N and S deposition in addition to the ecology and ecosystem services provided by these species. Understanding how current and potential atmospheric deposition impacts herbaceous species is important to maintaining natural ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide.