Molecular evidence for sediment nitrogen fixation in a temperate New England estuary

Project Title: Molecular evidence for sediment nitrogen fixation in a temperate New England estuary

Date: 2016

Principal Investigator(s): Newell, S. E., Pritchard, K. R., Foster, S. Q., & Fulweiler, R. W. (2016).

Abstract: Primary production in coastal waters is generally nitrogen (N) limited with denitrification outpacing nitrogen fixation (N2-fixation). However, recent work suggests that we have potentially underestimated the importance of heterotrophic sediment N2-fixation in marine ecosystems. We used clone libraries to examine transcript diversity of nifH (a gene associated with N2-fixation) in sediments at three sites in a temperate New England estuary (Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA) and compared our results to net sediment N2 fluxes previously measured at these sites. Read full text…PeerJ, 4, e1615. https://peerj.com/articles/1615/