A global dataset of terrestrial biological nitrogen fixation

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

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-05131-4

A global dataset of terrestrial biological nitrogen fixation

Journal Article · Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Scientific Data (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05131-4· OSTI ID:3002618

^[1]; Perakis, Steven S. ^[2]; Cleveland, Cory C. ^[3]; Menge, Duncan N. L. ^[4]; Reed, Sasha C. ^[5]; Batterman, Sarah A. ^[6]; Crews, Timothy E. ^[7]; Dynarski, Katherine A. ^[3]; Gei, Maga ^[8]; ^[9]; Jovan, Sarah E. ^[10]; ^[11]; ^[12]; ^[13]; ^[14]; Soper, Fiona M. ^[15]; Staccone, Anika P. ^[16]; ^[17]; ^[18]; Wurzburger, Nina ^[19]

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)
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY (United States); University of Leeds (United Kingdom); Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City (Panama)
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)
USDA Forest Service, Portland, OR (United States)
Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, ACT (Australia)
Universidad 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, Sebastapol, CA (United States)
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Max Planck Society, Mainz (Germany). Max Planck Inst. for Chemistry; Univ. of Graz (Austria)
Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the main natural source of new nitrogen inputs in terrestrial ecosystems, supporting terrestrial productivity, carbon uptake, and other Earth system processes. We assembled a comprehensive global dataset of field measurements of BNF in all major N-fixing niches across natural terrestrial biomes derived from the analysis of 376 BNF studies. The dataset comprises 32 variables, including site location, biome type, N-fixing niche, sampling year, quantification method, BNF rate (kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹), the percentage of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%N_dfa), N fixer or N-fixing substrate abundance, BNF rate per unit of N fixer abundance, and species identity. Overall, the dataset combines 1,207 BNF rates for trees, shrubs, herbs, soil, leaf litter, woody litter, dead wood, mosses, lichens, and biocrusts, 152 herb %N_dfa values, 1,005 measurements of N fixer or N-fixing substrate abundance, and 762 BNF rates per unit of N fixer abundance for a total of 424 species across 66 countries. This dataset facilitates synthesis, meta-analysis, upscaling, and model benchmarking of BNF fluxes at multiple spatial scales.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

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

OSTI ID:: 3002618

Journal Information:: Scientific Data (Online), Journal Name: Scientific Data (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2052-4463

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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