Hydrogen powers important nitrogen-transforming bacteria

Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria are key players in the natural nitrogen cycle on Earth and in biological wastewater treatment plants. For decades, these specialist bacteria were thought to depend on nitrite as their source of ...

Continental microbes helped seed ancient seas with nitrogen

Like our oceans, today's continents are brimming with life. Yet billions of years ago, before the advent of plants, continents would have appeared barren. These apparently vacant land forms were believed to play no role in ...

Trace element plays major role in tropical forest nitrogen cycle

A new paper by researchers from the University of Georgia and Princeton University sheds light on the critical part played by a little-studied element, molybdenum, in the nutrient cycles of tropical forests. Understanding ...

Fixing the role of nitrogen in coral bleaching

Excess nitrogen is shown to disrupt coral-algae symbiosis, triggering bleaching even in the absence of heat and light stress. With coral bleaching events intensifying as global sea temperatures rise, this is an important ...

Iron deficiency restrains marine microbes

Iron is a critical nutrient in the ocean. Its importance for algae and the nitrogen cycle has already been investigated in detail. Now, a new discovery shows that microbes also need iron to process phosphorus. A team of researchers ...

Researchers call for more work to balance nitrogen cycle

More than 112 years ago, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch industrialized a process that could produce ammonia from nitrogen readily available in the air, creating commercially viable chemical fertilizer capable of improving crop ...

page 7 from 14