The NITROX project will illuminate the potential of the microbial community involved in nitrogen fixation to respond to ocean deoxygenation and sulphidic anoxia, both of which are considered key challenges of the future ocean. Nitrogen (N) is a key element of life and limits primary production in large parts of the ocean. Still, the factors controlling the oceanic N-budget are largely unclear particularly in the context of a changing climate. Nitrogen fixation is the biological reduction of dinitrogen gas (N2) to ammonium. It is quantitatively the most important source of ‘new’ N to the ocean and is thought mostly to be limited by the availability of phosphorous and iron (Fe). Global change is predicted to result in the expansion of anoxic waters in the ocean, which in extreme cases can turn sulfidic. While O2 depletion favors N2-fixation, the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has a direct toxic effect on the N2-fixing community and influences the availability of Fe. The results are crucial to understand basic controls of N2-fixation and primary productivity in a changing ocean and will add to the EU’s overarching goal to understand how anthropogenic climate change influences the Ocean and the Earth.
Grant provider: EU MSCA
Total Amount of Grant: 1.580.851
Period: 1.6.16 - 31.5.18