British scientists say nitrogen pollution from cars, factories and intensive farming is damaging 60% cent of European wildlife sites.
Scientists at York University say reactive nitrogen compounds make soil too acidic for many of the plants that insects depend on.
A team of EU scientists said nitrogen emissions were threatening biodiversity.
The report's lead author, Dr Kevin Hicks from the university's Stockholm Environment Institute, told the BBC that England's Peak District had a demonstrably low range of species as a result of the reactive nitrogen that fell on the area.
Earlier this week another report was released warning of the risks and threats linked to nitrogen pollution.
The European Nitrogen Assessment - the first of its kind - estimated nitrogen damage to health and the environment at between £55bn and £280bn a year in Europe, even though nitrogen pollution from vehicles and industry had dropped 30% over recent decades.
Nitrogen in the atmosphere is harmless in its inert state, but the report says reactive forms of nitrogen, largely produced by human activity, can be a menace to the natural world.
