In shallow coastal systems where most of the seafloor lies within the photic zone, benthic photoautotrophy plays a key role in regulating nutrient cycling. In these systems, production of submerged vascular plants (seagrasses), macroalgae and benthic microalgae is high and typically exceeds that of phytoplankton (Borum and Sand Jensen 1996). Changes in the patterns of primary production as well...

Nutrient cycling is a key process linking organisms in ecosystems. This is especially apparent in stream environments in which nutrients are taken up readily and cycled through the system in a downstream trajectory. Ecological stoichiometry predicts that biogeochemical cycles of different elements are interdependent because the organisms that drive these cycles require fixed ratios of nutrients...

Top predators can provide fundamental ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, and their impact can be even greater in environments with low nutrients and productivity, such as Arctic tundra. We estimated the effects of Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) denning on soil nutrient dynamics and vegetation production near Churchill, Manitoba in June and August 2014. Soils from fox dens contained highe...

I investigated the drivers of nutrient cycling by heterotrophic microbes during leaf decomposition in streams. My research addressed two overarching questions: 1) how do exogenous and endogenous factors interact to drive microbial nitrogen (N) cycling during organic matter decomposition in stream ecosystems, and 2) what affect will the global increase in biologically active N have on these fact...

Nitrogen pollution in coastal zones is a widespread issue, particularly in ecosystems with urban or agricultural watersheds. California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, at the landward reaches of San Francisco Bay, is highly impacted by both agricultural runoff and sewage effluent, leading to chronically high nutrient loadings. In particular, the extensive discharge of ammonium into the Sacramen...

Filter-feeding mussels historically comprised most of benthic biomass in many streams. They contribute to stream ecosystem functioning by linking the water column and benthic habitats. Both native and nonnative species coexist in many streams, but their ecological roles are not well quantified. The invasive bivalve, Corbicula fluminea, has the potential to alter profoundly organic matter dynami...

Tropical forests store large amounts of biomass despite they generally grow in nutrient-poor soils, suggesting that the role of soil characteristics in the structure and dynamics of tropical forests is complex. We used data for >34 000 trees from several permanent plots in French Guiana to investigate if soil characteristics could predict the structure (tree diameter, density and aboveground bi...

Human activities have significantly altered nitrogen (N) availability in most terrestrial ecosystems, with consequences for community composition and ecosystem functioning. Although studies of how changes in N availability affect biodiversity and community composition are relatively common, much less remains known about the effects of N inputs on the coupled biogeochemical cycling of N and phos...

EDITORIAL article Front. Soil Sci., 26 July 2022Sec. Biogeochemistry & Nutrient Cycling https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoil.2022.947619

The conquest of the land by plants, c. 470 million years ago, was made possible by the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (Selosse et al., 2015). In fact, the evolution of that symbiosis was so successful that plant roots have to fit into an arbuscularmycorrhizal world. But that conclusion at the same time hides a paradox. If the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was so successful, which empty nic...