Abstract
Recent interest in the role of nitrous oxide in the natural nitrogen cycle has focused on its production through the nitrification process1. Nitrous oxide depleted in 15N has been found in the shallow water column of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean2, suggesting that 15N is depleted during N2O production. Here we report significant 15N depletion in N2O produced by bacterial nitrification, implying that N2O is produced via NO–2 rather than directly from NH+4 and that N2O should be very depleted in 15N where nitrification is the predominant production process for N2O. The magnitude of the isotope depletion is so large that this work should lead to further use of data on the natural abundance of 15N for assessing the sources and sinks of nitrogenous compounds.
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Yoshida, N. 15N-depleted N2O as a product of nitrification. Nature 335, 528–529 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/335528a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/335528a0
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