Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture

Reis Ely, Carla R.; Perakis, Steven S.; Cleveland, Cory C.; Menge, Duncan N. L.; Reed, Sasha C.; Taylor, Benton N.; Batterman, Sarah A.; Clark, Christopher M.; Crews, Timothy E.; Dynarski, Katherine A.; Gei, Maga; Gundale, Michael J.; Herridge, David F.; Jovan, Sarah E.; Kou-Giesbrecht, Sian; Peoples, Mark B.; Piipponen, Johannes; Rodríguez-Caballero, Emilio; Salmon, Verity G.; Soper, Fiona M.; Staccone, Anika P.; Weber, Bettina; Williams, Christopher A.; Wurzburger, Nina

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09201-w

Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture

Journal Article · Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09201-w· OSTI ID:3002617

^[1]; ^[2]; Cleveland, Cory C. ^[3]; ^[4]; Reed, Sasha C. ^[5]; ^[6]; Batterman, Sarah A. ^[7]; ^[8]; Crews, Timothy E. ^[9]; Dynarski, Katherine A. ^[3]; Gei, Maga ^[10]; ^[11]; Herridge, David F. ^[12]; Jovan, Sarah E. ^[13]; ^[14]; ^[15]; ^[16]; ^[17]; ^[18]; Soper, Fiona M. ^[19] more »

Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States); Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
US Geological Survey, Corvallis, OR (United States)
Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
US Geological Survey, Moab, UT (United States)
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY (United States); University of Leeds (United Kingdom); Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City (Panama)
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, DC (United States)
The Land Institute, Salina, KS (United States)
Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umea (Sweden)
Univ. of New England, Armidale, NSW (Australia)
USDA Forest Service, Portland, OR (United States)
Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, ACT (Australia)
Aalto Univ., Espoo (Finland)
Univ. de Almería (Spain); Max Planck Society, Mainz (Germany). Max Planck Inst. for Chemistry
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)
Earthshot Labs, Sebastopol, CA (United States)
Max Planck Society, Mainz (Germany). Max Planck Inst. for Chemistry; Univ. of Graz (Austria)
Clark Univ., Worcester, MA (United States)
Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the largest natural source of new nitrogen (N) that supports terrestrial productivity, yet estimates of global terrestrial BNF remain highly uncertain. Here, in this study, we show that this uncertainty is partly because of sampling bias, as field BNF measurements in natural terrestrial ecosystems occur where N fixers are 17 times more prevalent than their mean abundances worldwide. To correct this bias, we develop new estimates of global terrestrial BNF by upscaling field BNF measurements using spatially explicit abundances of all major biogeochemical N-fixing niches. We find that natural biomes sustain lower BNF, 65 (52–77) Tg N yr⁻¹, than previous empirical bottom-up estimates, with most BNF occurring in tropical forests and drylands. We also find high agricultural BNF in croplands and cultivated pastures, 56 (54–58) Tg N yr⁻¹. Agricultural BNF has increased terrestrial BNF by 64% and total terrestrial N inputs from all sources by 60% over pre-industrial levels. Our results indicate that BNF may impose stronger constraints on the carbon sink in natural terrestrial biomes and represent a larger source of agricultural N than is generally considered in analyses of the global N cycle, with implications for proposed safe operating limits for N use.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; SC0014664

OSTI ID:: 3002617

Journal Information:: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 8072 Vol. 643; ISSN 1476-4687; ISSN 0028-0836

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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