Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

BIOSPHERE MODELLING

Climate tipping point of nitrogen fixation

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Plants

View current issue Submit your manuscript

A recent study suggests that the optimal temperature for symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates exceeds the plant’s preferred growth temperature in laboratory conditions. A few degrees of warming could thereby increase or decrease nitrogen fixation rates, depending on the optimal rate among species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1: Calculated responses of symbiotic nitrogen fixation relative to its rate at 25 °C for tree seedlings using the parameter values from Bytnerowicz et al.

References

  1. Friedlingstein, P. et al. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 12, 3269–3340 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, Y.-P. & Houlton, B. Z. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L24403 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Houlton, B. Z., Morford, S. L. & Dahlgren, R. A. Science 360, 58–62 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Peng, J. et al. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 34, e2019GB006296 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Houlton, B. Z., Wang, Y. P., Vitousek, P. M. & Field, C. B. Nature 454, 327–330 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bytnerowicz, T. A., Akana, P. R., Griffin, K. L. & Menge, D. N. L. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-01090-x (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Bastos, A. et al. Sci. Adv. 6, eaba2724 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Menge, D. N. L., Levin, S. A. & Hedin, L. O. Am. Nat. 174, 465–477 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lu, M. & Hedin, L. O. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3, 239–250 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

    Ying-Ping Wang

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Global Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Benjamin Z. Houlton

Authors
  1. Ying-Ping Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin Z. Houlton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ying-Ping Wang or Benjamin Z. Houlton.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, YP., Houlton, B.Z. Climate tipping point of nitrogen fixation. Nat. Plants 8, 196–197 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01116-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01116-y

  • Springer Nature Limited

Search

Navigation