A "new" look at the nitrogen cycle

[rgulrich]

From Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930132656.htm
Interesting topic for discussion, with possible implications for those pursuing the carbon-dosing approach, chemical filtration, and many other aspects of the hobby.
Cheers,
Ray

 

[deuce2002]

where can i get some????

 

[KarlBob]

Sounds like you probably already have some, if they're as ubiquitous as the article claimed.

 

[wooden_reefer]

"Archaea are capable of stealing the ammonia from other organisms and turning it into nitrate."

So nitrate still the same.

It would be nice if the end product were nitrogen gas.

Not very significant.

Nitrification with nitrification bacteria is already very effective.

One step or two steps makes little difference.

Nitrification bacteria is already extremely easy to cultivate.

 

[rgulrich]

Hmm, I think the thrust of the article and results of the research is that archea play the dominant role in the nitrogen cycle, not bacteria.
"Bacterial nitrifiers were discovered in the late 19th century. One century later this other group of nitrifiers is discovered that is not a minor population, it turns out to be the major population...We have to revise our basic understanding of the nitrogen cycle."
Hmm. That's a bit of a fundamental shift in thinking. The telling observations are at the end of the article, one of which is:
"'Our data suggest that the carbon pump is weaker than currently assumed, so current climate models may overestimate how much carbon can be absorbed by the oceans,' Martens Habbena said."
Cheers,
Ray

 

[KarlBob]

For our tanks, the difference between archaea and bacteria probably doesn't amount to much. We probably have some archaea already, we just never realized that part of the nitrification isn't being carried out by bacteria. To the layman, germs are germs. The results are what we care about.

As rgulrich mentioned, the difference will be more significant in global climate modeling. It's always nice to be able to pin down an X factor in a model to a specific cause. Right now, the action of the archaea is just a correction factor somewhere in the model (multiply this result times 1.something to match observed reality). Now the researchers will be able to simulate things like excessive growth or die-off of archaea.