THE AQUATIC NITROGEN FIXATION RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK: GOALS, PLANS AND PROGRESS
The Aquatic N2 Fixation Research Coordination Network (ANF RCN) was established in 2021 to cultivate a new paradigm of the fundamental, yet understudied, role of N2 fixation in ecosystems across the freshwater to marine continuum. The ANF RCN is addressing three research coordination opportunities (RCOs) via the formation of working groups that work over 24 months to set and conduct research tasks, participate in a workshop, and produce paper and data products. RCO1 synthesized the current knowledge of the rates and biodiversity of diazotrophs (organisms that fix N2) for ecosystems along the freshwater-marine continuum. The RCO1 workshop was held in June 2022, and produced a data synthesis of rates from the published literature, and a synthesis of diazotroph biodiversity from archived nifH amplicon and metagenome data. The goal of RCO2 was to characterize the variable stoichiometries of diazotrophs with different metabolic strategies. The RCO2 workshop was held in October 2023 and produced mathematical models describing the stoichiometry of photosynthetic and organo-heterotrophic diazotrophs, and a synthetic overview of the state of knowledge of chemotrophic diazotrophs. RCO3 will develop a set of common mathematical and statistical tools enabling the upscaling of N2 fixation for comparison within and among diverse aquatic ecosystems and in regional and global N budgets, with a workshop planned for March 2025. The ANF RCN invites applicants for RCO3 participation, and also provides opportunities for the entire community of researchers studying nitrogen fixation across the aquascape to share research via networking, focused publications and special conference sessions.
Primary Presenter: Thad Scott, Baylor University (Thad_Scott@Baylor.edu)
Authors:
Thad Scott, Baylor University (thad_scott@baylor.edu)
Amy Marcarelli, Michigan Tech University (ammarcar@mtu.edu)
Robinson Fulweiler, Boston University (rwf@bu.edu)
Megan Berberich, Michigan Tech University (meberber@mtu.edu)
Julian Damashek, Hamilton University (juliandamashek@gmail.com)
Jason Taylor, USDA (jason.taylor@usda.edu)
Peter Groffman, City University of New York (peter.groffman@asrc.cuny.edu)
Angela Knapp, Florida State University (anknapp@fsu.edu)
Hal Halvorson, Central Arkansas University (hhalvorson@uca.edu)
Robert Sterner, University of Minnesota Duluth (stern007@d.umn.edu)
John Harrison, Washington State University (john_harrison@wsu.edu)
Emily Stanley, University of Wisconsin (ehstanley@wisc.edu)
THE AQUATIC NITROGEN FIXATION RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK: GOALS, PLANS AND PROGRESS
Category
Scientific Sessions > SS14 - Exploring Nitrogen Fixation Along the Freshwater-Marine Continuum; A Joint ASLO-SFS Endeavor
Description
Time: 12:30 PM
Date: 4/6/2024
Room: Lecture Hall