Katherine A Dynarski

University of Montana | UMT · College of Forestry and Conservation

Biological nitrogen fixation represents the largest natural flux of new nitrogen (N) into terrestrial ecosystems, providing a critical N source to support net primary productivity of both natural and agricultural systems. When they are common, symbiotic associations between plants and bacteria can add more than 100 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ to ecosystems. Yet,...

Plant element stoichiometry and stoichiometric flexibility strongly regulate ecosystem responses to global change. Here, we tested three potential mechanistic drivers (climate, soil nutrients, and plant taxonomy) of both using paired foliar and soil nutrient data from terrestrial forested National Ecological Observatory Network sites across the U.S...

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-00898-4.

Accurately quantifying rates and patterns of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in terrestrial ecosystems is essential to characterize ecological and biogeochemical interactions, identify its mechanistic controls, improve BNF representation in conceptual and numerical modeling, and forecast nitrogen limitation constraints on future carbon (C) cycli...

Enhancing soil organic matter in agricultural soils has potential to contribute to climate mitigation while also promoting soil health and resilience. However, soil carbon (C) sequestration projects are rare in C markets. One concern surrounding soil C is uncertainty regarding the permanence of newly sequestered soil C. This scientific uncertainty...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Symbiotic nitrogen- (N) fixing trees can influence multiple biogeochemical cycles by fixing atmospheric N, which drives net primary productivity and soil carbon (C) and N accumulation, as well as by mobilizing soil phosphorus (P) and other nutrients to support growth and metabolism. The soil micronutrient molybdenum (Mo) is essential to N-fixation,...

Plant root associations with microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi or N-fixing bacteria enable ecosystems to tap pools of nitrogen (N) that might otherwise be inaccessible, including atmospheric N or N in large soil organic molecules. Such microbially assisted N-foraging strategies may be particularly important in late-successional retrogressive ecosy...

Global ecosystem models suggest that bedrock nitrogen (N) weathering contributes 10‐20% of total N inputs to the natural terrestrial biosphere and >38% of ecosystem N supplies in temperate forests specifically. Yet, the role of rock N weathering in shaping ecological processes and biogeochemical fluxes is largely unknown. Here, we show that tempera...

Nitrogen (N) fixation by free-living bacteria is a primary N input pathway in many ecosystems and sustains global plant productivity. Uncertainty exists over the importance of N, phosphorus (P) and molybdenum (Mo) availability in controlling free-living N fixation rates. Here, we investigate the geographic occurrence and variability of nutrient con...

Symbiotic relationships between N-2-fixing prokaryotes and their autotrophic hosts are essential in nitrogen (N)-limited ecosystems, yet the importance of this association in pristine boreal peatlands, which store 25 % of the world's soil (C), has been overlooked. External inputs of N to bogs are predominantly atmospheric, and given that regions of...

In peatlands NPP > decomposition C and N accumulate at high rates Bogs are ombrotrophic peatlands (they receive water and nutrients solely from atmospheric deposition). Atmospheric N deposition in Alberta Canada is low (1-5 kg/ha/yr) Biological N2-fixation is the primary input of new N to bogs (Vile et al., in review). Wildfires occur regularl...