Evolution: a fixed-nitrogen fix in the early ocean?
A new study asserts that a late evolutionary leap in cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation terminated a long history of nitrogen-limited primary production in the ocean--and contributed to a dramatic increase in biospheric oxygen coincident with the rise of animals.
Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. Electronic address: timothy.lyons@ucr.edu.
Timothy W
TW
Lyons
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Christopher T
CT
Reinhard
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Noah J
NJ
Planavsky
D005075:Biological Evolution; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D058458:Nitrogen Cycle