• DOI:10.1038/477039a
• Corpus ID: 2946571

Ecology: Nitrogen from the deep

@article{Schuur2011EcologyNF,
  title={Ecology: Nitrogen from the deep},
  author={Edward. A.G. Schuur},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2011},
  volume={477},
  pages={39-40}
}

• E. Schuur
• Published 1 September 2011
• Environmental Science
• Nature

Ecosystems acquire nitrogen from the atmosphere, but this source can't account for the large nitrogen capital of some systems. The finding that bedrock can also act as a nitrogen source may help solve the riddle. See Letter p.78
Bioavailable nitrogen commonly limits plant growth in natural ecosystems. In the absence of humans, this essential nutrient is thought to come mainly from the atmosphere through bacterial metabolism. Morford et al. present measurements of the nitrogen concentration and isotopic composition of rocks, soil and leaves to demonstrate that bedrock is a further, hitherto-overlooked source of bioavailable nitrogen to forests in the western United States. Furthermore, the forests growing above nitrogen-rich geology store appreciably more carbon than their impoverished counterparts. The authors suggest that this novel pathway might be a universal phenomenon.