As part of the ASLO conference, the present and future of nitrogen fixation in aquatic systems
Mar Benavides, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, mar.benavides@ird.fr
Sophie Bonnet, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, sophie.bonnet@univ-amu.fr
Maren Voss, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, maren.voss@io-warnemuende.de
Lasse Riemann, University of Copenhagen, lriemann@bio.ku.dk
Douglas Capone, University of Southern California, capone@usc.edu
Exciting work is underway in a range of areas concerning aquatic nitrogen fixation, particularly in fresh and marine waters. Nitrogen fixation is a critical input of nutrients into a variety of freshwater and ocean ecosystems, including pelagic and benthic systems. Nitrogen fixation is also subject to major changes due to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Diazotrophs include a wide variety of organisms capable of thriving in diverse environmental conditions, which are now known to include nutrient-rich environments, as well as cold or deep aphotic waters. Their responses to changes in the environment can therefore affect their survival and importance in a variety of ways, including changes in ecological niches, affecting the nitrogen and carbon cycle in aquatic systems. The multiple metabolic capacities of diazotrophs make them an interesting group for climate change mitigation and biotechnological applications. Ocean dynamics, rising temperatures, increasing DIC levels, deoxygenation and various human impacts on aquatic systems are affecting the species composition, distribution and physiological performance of these microbes in the contemporary ocean and will most likely continue to do so in the future. Understanding the impact of interrelated environmental and anthropogenic effects requires multidisciplinary research efforts ranging from single-cell approaches to modelling. This session welcomes presentations on all aspects of current experimental, field and modelling work, and in particular those investigating the role of nitrogen fixation under future climate conditions. In addition, studies that consider geoengineering solutions to mitigate climate change and the use of diazotrophs in mariculture systems for the production of cosmetics and health compounds and in bioremediation are encouraged.
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