Nitrogen-fixing plants provide critical nitrogen inputs that support the high productivity of tropical forests, but our understanding of the ecology of nitrogen fixers – and especially their ...

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth, but the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture is not sustainable. A team of bacteriologists and plant scientists discuss the ...

Modern biology textbooks assert that only bacteria can take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a form that is usable for life. Plants that fix nitrogen, such as legumes, do so by ...

KINGSTON, R.I.—April 3, 2024—Nitrogen is a nutrient essential for all life on Earth. Although nitrogen gas (N 2) is plentiful, it is largely unavailable to most organisms without a process known as ...

Bacteria are only the only organisms that are able to 'fix' nitrogen, or remove it from the atmosphere and convert it into a useful form. While some plants seem to fix nitrogen, it is actually ...

So, nitrogen-fixing bacteria have the added task of keeping oxygen away from the enzyme to prevent it from rusting, which requires a lot of work. In one study on a type of cyanobacteria, researchers ...

The shrinking sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is, overall, a disaster. But paradoxically, the melting of the ice can also fuel ...