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Oceanography

A bigger nitrogen fix

Biologically useful nitrogen is delivered to the upper ocean from the depths by vertical transport processes — or such was the received wisdom. In fact, bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen may be just as crucial.

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Figure 1: The marine nitrogen cycle.

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Gruber, N. A bigger nitrogen fix. Nature 436, 786–787 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/436786a

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