Journal Article10.1038/NATURE02550
Iron and phosphorus co-limit nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic
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TL;DR: The results support the hypothesis that aeolian mineral dust deposition promotes nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and show that community primary productivity was nitrogen-limited, and that nitrogen fixation was co-limited by iron and phosphorus.
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Abstract: The role of iron in enhancing phytoplankton productivity in high nutrient, low chlorophyll oceanic regions was demonstrated first through iron-addition bioassay experiments1 and subsequently confirmed by large-scale iron fertilization experiments2. Iron supply has been hypothesized to limit nitrogen fixation and hence oceanic primary productivity on geological timescales3, providing an alternative to phosphorus as the ultimate limiting nutrient4. Oceanographic observations have been interpreted both to confirm and refute this hypothesis5, 6, but direct experimental evidence is lacking7. We conducted experiments to test this hypothesis during the Meteor 55 cruise to the tropical North Atlantic. This region is rich in diazotrophs8 and strongly impacted by Saharan dust input9. Here we show that community primary productivity was nitrogen-limited, and that nitrogen fixation was co-limited by iron and phosphorus. Saharan dust addition stimulated nitrogen fixation, presumably by supplying both iron and phosphorus10, 11. Our results support the hypothesis that aeolian mineral dust deposition promotes nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic.
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Citations
Global distribution patterns of marine nitrogen-fixers by imaging and molecular methods
Juan José Pierella Karlusich,Juan José Pierella Karlusich,Eric Pelletier,Eric Pelletier,Fabien Lombard,Fabien Lombard,Fabien Lombard,Madeline Carsique,Etienne Dvorak,Sébastien Colin,Sébastien Colin,Marc Picheral,Marc Picheral,Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo,Silvia G. Acinas,Rainer Pepperkok,Eric Karsenti,Eric Karsenti,Colomban de Vargas,Colomban de Vargas,Patrick Wincker,Patrick Wincker,Chris Bowler,Chris Bowler,Rachel A. Foster +24 more
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Protein turnover and plant RNA and phosphorus requirements in relation to nitrogen fixation
TL;DR: There is a general trend in published data towards lower P use efficiency for photosynthetic diazotrophic organisms growing under P limitation with N(2) as their nitrogen source, rather than with NH(4)(+), urea or NO(3)(-).
94
Impact of fertilization regimes on diazotroph community compositions and N2-fixation activity in paddy soil
TL;DR: Assessment of nutrient limitations on the abundance and N 2 -fixation activity of diazotrophs in a long term fertilization experiment suggests that the nifH gene transcript level is a suitable indicator for predicting the N 1 -fixing microorganisms in paddy soil of various fertility status.
93
Towards a more labor-saving way in microbial ammonium oxidation: A review on complete ammonia oxidization (comammox).
Guibing Zhu,Xiaomin Fang,Shanyun Wang,Longyao Yu,Gawhar Armanbek,Jie Yu,Liping Jiang,Dongdan Yuan,Zhongrui Guo,Hanrui Zhang,Lei Zheng,Lorenz Schwark,Mike S. M. Jetten,Asheesh Kumar Yadav,Yong-Guan Zhu +14 more
TL;DR: In this article , a large number of comammox bacteria and pathways have been detected in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, indicating that the Comammox process may exert an important role in the global nitrogen cycle.
93
Molecular evidence of iron limitation and availability in the global diazotroph Trichodesmium
TL;DR: First molecular evidence of in situ Fe limitation of Trichodesmium N2 fixation is reported, which was evident in samples from the Pacific Ocean, whereas limitation appeared minimal to nonexistent in Atlantic Ocean samples.
92
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