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Ecology

Nitrogen from the deep

Nature volume 477, pages 39–40 (2011)Cite this article

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Ecosystems acquire nitrogen from the atmosphere, but this source can't account for the large nitrogen capital of some systems. The finding that bedrock can also act as a nitrogen source may help solve the riddle. See Letter p.78

In many parts of the world, the rates at which plants grow are controlled by the availability of nitrogen, an essential element for all life1. Forest growth is fuelled by the nitrogen capital contained in soils and biomass. Like money in a bank account, this capital increases slowly within ecosystems over hundreds to thousands of years from the accumulation of tiny deposits of nitrogen that arrive each year from the atmosphere2. But on page 78 of this issue, Morford et al.3 report that nitrogen-rich bedrock can double nitrogen input rates to forest ecosystems, which flourish as a result.

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Figure 1: Flourishing forests.

S. MORFORD

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  1. Edward A. G. Schuur is in the Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8526, USA.,

    Edward A. G. Schuur

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  1. Edward A. G. Schuur
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Correspondence to Edward A. G. Schuur.

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Schuur, E. Nitrogen from the deep. Nature 477, 39–40 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/477039a

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