Revisiting the distribution of oceanic N-2 fixation and estimating diazotrophic contribution to marine production
Type | Article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | 2019-02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Tang Weiyi1, Wang Seaver1, Fonseca-Batista Debany2, 6, Dehairs Frank2, Gifford Scott3, Gonzalez Aridane G.4, 5, Gallinari Morgane7, Planquette Helene4, Sarthou Geraldine4, Cassar Nicolas1, 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : Duke Univ, Nicholas Sch Environm, Div Earth & Ocean Sci, Durham, NC 27708 USA. 2 : Vrije Univ Brussel, Analyt Environm & Geochem, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. 3 : Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill, Dept Marine Sci, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA. 4 : Inst Univ Europeen Mer IUEM, Lab Sci Environm Marin LEMAR, IFREMER, UBO,CNRS,IRD,UMR 6539, F-29280 Brest, France. 5 : Univ Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Inst Oceanog & Cambio Global IOCAG, Las Palmas Gran Canaria 35214, Spain. 6 : Dalhousie Univ, Dept Biol, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada. |
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Source | Nature Communications (2041-1723) (Nature Publishing Group), 2019-02 , Vol. 10 , N. 831 , P. 10p. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1038/s41467-019-08640-0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 72 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | Marine N-2 fixation supports a significant portion of oceanic primary production by making N-2 bioavailable to planktonic communities, in the process influencing atmosphere-ocean carbon fluxes and our global climate. However, the geographical distribution and controlling factors of marine N-2 fixation remain elusive largely due to sparse observations. Here we present unprecedented high-resolution underway N-2 fixation estimates across over 6000 kilometers of the western North Atlantic. Unexpectedly, we find increasing N-2 fixation rates from the oligotrophic Sargasso Sea to North America coastal waters, driven primarily by cyanobacterial diazotrophs. N-2 fixation is best correlated to phosphorus availability and chlorophylla concentration. Globally, intense N-2 fixation activity in the coastal oceans is validated by a meta-analysis of published observations and we estimate the annual coastal N-2 fixation flux to be 16.7 Tg N. This study broadens the biogeography of N-2 fixation, highlights the interplay of regulating factors, and reveals thriving diazotrophic communities in coastal waters with potential significance to the global nitrogen and carbon cycles. |
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