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Nitrogen cycle

Solution to a marine mystery

Nature volume 422, pages 575–576 (2003)Cite this article

The anammox reaction, a microbial process that was first observed in waste-water treatment plants, looks as if it may be a key player in the nitrogen cycle in certain parts of the oceans.

In the oceans, denitrification is the process by which nitrate (primarily) is reduced to N2 — inert dinitrogen gas. It occurs when certain bacteria decompose organic matter in environments where oxygen concentrations are vanishingly low, and is how 'fixed' nitrogen is converted into a form that cannot be used by most marine plants. This was believed to be the only mechanism of N2 production in the oceans — and so by far the largest marine sink for fixed nitrogen.

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  1. the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Box 357940, Seattle, 98195-7940, Washington, USA

    Allan H. Devol

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  1. Allan H. Devol
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Correspondence to Allan H. Devol.

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Devol, A. Solution to a marine mystery. Nature 422, 575–576 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/422575a

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