Nitrogen is an essential element for all life. Although Earth’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, it is not readily available for plants and animals. Early in the history of life, some microorganisms evolved the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a biologically useful form through a process called nitrogen fixation. This process is a major component of the global nitrogen cycle and has been extensively studied in open-ocean and terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, nitrogen fixation rates and ecological controls remain poorly understood in inland and coastal aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems are critical as they link terrestrial and marine biomes. They are also quite diverse. A general understanding of aquatic nitrogen fixation requires strong integration between scientists representing diverse perspectives. The Aquatic Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network will develop an ecological framework for understanding aquatic nitrogen fixation by bringing together scientists studying nitrogen fixation across the freshwater to marine continuum. Network activities will improve the quality of scientific discovery and training for graduate students and early career scientists across diverse fields of science.
The Aquatic Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network will provide a platform to engage a broad community of biogeochemists, computational modelers, ecologists, hydrologists and microbiologists to address three Research Coordination Opportunities: 1) the biodiversity and environmental controls on autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrogen fixation, 2) the ecological stoichiometry of nitrogen fixation, and 3) the upscaling of nitrogen fixation rates and fates. Three working groups focused on these opportunities will coordinate over a period of five years through a series of face-to-face and online meetings, as well as through the project website (www.aquaticnfixation.com) to successively build upon the products from each group. The project will advance ecosystem science by integrating the framework of ecological stoichiometry with the hydrologic transport of chemical resources to constrain nitrogen fixation rates and fixed nitrogen fates within the ecological dynamics of inland and coastal waters.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
