Phosphate availability affects fixed nitrogen transfer from diazotrophs to their epibionts
- Schoffelen, N.
- Mohr, W.
- Ferdelman, T.
- Dürschlag, J.
- Littmann, S.
- Ploug, H.
- Kuypers, M.
DOIAbstract
Dinitrogen (N-2) fixation is a major source of external nitrogen (N) to aquatic ecosystems and therefore exerts control over productivity. Studies have shown that N-2 -fixers release freshly fixed N into the environment, but the causes for this N release are largely unclear. Here, we show that the availability of phosphate can directly affect the transfer of freshly fixed N to epibionts in filamentous, diazotrophic cyanobacteria. Stable-isotope incubations coupled to single-cell analyses showed that <1% and similar to 15% of freshly fixed N was transferred to epibionts of Aphanizomenon and Nodularia, respectively, at phosphate scarcity during a summer bloom in the Baltic Sea. When phosphate was added, the transfer of freshly fixed N to epib...
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