Abstract
THE nitrogen budgets for natural ecological systems are poorly understood, and the contribution of particular microflora in these associations has been only tentatively assessed1–3. This applies especially to arid zones where soils sometimes have a surface crust of lichens, some blue-green algae, and other cryptogams covering as much as 30 per cent of the total soil area. It is of considerable interest therefore to determine to what extent these lichens fix atmospheric nitrogen, since they might contribute appreciably to the maintenance of a favourable nitrogen balance in these areas.
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References
Allison, F. E., Adv. Agron., 7, 213 (1955).
Stevenson, G., Ann. Bot., 23, 622 (1959).
McKee, H. S., Nitrogen Metabolism in Plants (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1962).
Shields, L. M., Mitchell, C., and Drouet, F., Amer. J. Bot., 44, 498 (1957).
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ROGERS, R., LANGE, R. & NICHOLAS, D. Nitrogen Fixation by Lichens of Arid Soil Crusts. Nature 209, 96–97 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/209096b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/209096b0
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