Fertilizer Use Within
Sustainable Planetary
Boundaries
Foliar application
Phyllosphere bacteria
Infusion of nutrients
Chemical fertilizer
formulation (nutrient
composition/shape/size)
Microbial–based interventions
Endophytes
Free-living soil bacteria
Fungi (mycorrhizae)
Biological nitrogen fixation
Seed coating with
nutrients
Fertilizers are a fundamental human
intervention in biology and all other
subjects involving life on earth.
Water for irrigating crops is, for
example, obtained from surface
and groundwater sources, helps to
cool plants through transpiration to
vapor back into the atmosphere and
rain onto the earth surface without
changing its chemical composition,
and hence it cycles in the biosphere.
Conversely, N2 present in the
atmosphere and ore containing
P, K or micronutrients deep down
in the lithosphere are lifeless and
inert to biology. They affect biology
only when mined and processed
into reactive nutrients and