Global oceanic diazotroph database version 2 and elevated estimate of globaloceanic N2 fixation Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract. Marine diazotrophs convert dinitrogen (N2) gas into bioavailable nitrogen (N), supporting life in the global ocean. In 2012, the first version of the global oceanic diazotroph database (version1) was published. Here, we present an updated version of the database (version2), significantly increasing the number of in situ diazotrophic measurements from 13565 to 55286. Data points for N2 fixation rates, diazotrophic cell abundance, and nifH gene copy abundance have increased by 184%, 86%, and 809%, respectively. Version2 includes two new data sheets for the nifH gene copy abundance of non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs and cell-specific N2 fixation rates. The measurements of N2 fixation rates approximately follow a log-normal distribution in both version1 and version2. However, version2 considerably extends both the left and right tails of the distribution. Consequently, when estimating global oceanic N2 fixation rates using the geometric means of different ocean basins, version1 and version2 yield similar rates (4357 versus 4563TgNyr1; ranges based on one geometric standard error). In contrast, when using arithmetic means, version2 suggests a significantly higher rate of 22330TgNyr1 (meanstandard error; same hereafter) compared to version1 (747TgNyr1). Specifically, substantial rate increases are estimated for the South Pacific Ocean (8823 versus 202TgNyr1), primarily driven by measurements in the southwestern subtropics, and for the North Atlantic Ocean (409 versus 102TgNyr1). Moreover, version2 estimates the N2 fixation rate in the Indian Ocean to be 3514TgNyr1, which could not be estimated using version1 due to limited data availability. Furthermore, a comparison of N2 fixation rates obtained through different measurement methods at the same months, locations, and depths reveals that the conventional 15N2 bubble method yields lower rates in 69% cases compared to the new 15N2 dissolution method. This updated versionof the database can facilitate future studies in marine ecology and biogeochemistry. The database is stored at the Figshare repository (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21677687; Shao et al., 2022).

published proceedings

  • EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA

altmetric score

  • 16.05

author list (cited authors)

  • Shao, Z., Xu, Y., Wang, H., Luo, W., Wang, L., Huang, Y., ... Luo, Y.

citation count

  • 9

complete list of authors

  • Shao, Zhibo||Xu, Yangchun||Wang, Hua||Luo, Weicheng||Wang, Lice||Huang, Yuhong||Agawin, Nona Sheila R||Ahmed, Ayaz||Benavides, Mar||Bentzon-Tilia, Mikkel||Berman-Frank, Ilana||Berthelot, Hugo||Biegala, Isabelle C||Bif, Mariana B||Bode, Antonio||Bonnet, Sophie||Bronk, Deborah A||Brown, Mark V||Campbell, Lisa||Capone, Douglas G||Carpenter, Edward J||Cassar, Nicolas||Chang, Bonnie X||Chappell, Dreux||Chen, Yuh-ling Lee||Church, Matthew J||Cornejo-Castillo, Francisco M||Detoni, Amalia Maria Sacilotto||Doney, Scott C||Dupouy, Cecile||Estrada, Marta||Fernandez, Camila||Fernandez-Castro, Bieito||Fonseca-Batista, Debany||Foster, Rachel A||Furuya, Ken||Garcia, Nicole||Goto, Kanji||Gago, Jesus||Gradoville, Mary R||Hamersley, M Robert||Henke, Britt A||Horstmann, Cora||Jayakumar, Amal||Jiang, Zhibing||Kao, Shuh-Ji||Karl, David M||Kittu, Leila R||Knapp, Angela N||Kumar, Sanjeev||LaRoche, Julie||Liu, Hongbin||Liu, Jiaxing||Lory, Caroline||Loscher, Carolin R||Maranon, Emilio||Messer, Lauren F||Mills, Matthew M||Mohr, Wiebke||Moisander, Pia H||Mahaffey, Claire||Moore, Robert||Mourino-Carballido, Beatriz||Mulholland, Margaret R||Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro||Needoba, Joseph A||Raes, Eric J||Rahav, Eyal||Ramirez-Cardenas, Teodoro||Reeder, Christian Furbo||Riemann, Lasse||Riou, Virginie||Robidart, Julie C||Sarma, Vedula VSS||Sato, Takuya||Saxena, Himanshu||Selden, Corday||Seymour, Justin R||Shi, Dalin||Shiozaki, Takuhei||Singh, Arvind||Sipler, Rachel E||Sun, Jun||Suzuki, Koji||Takahashi, Kazutaka||Tan, Yehui||Tang, Weiyi||Tremblay, Jean-Eric||Turk-Kubo, Kendra||Wen, Zuozhu||White, Angelicque E||Wilson, Samuel T||Yoshida, Takashi||Zehr, Jonathan P||Zhang, Run||Zhang, Yao||Luo, Ya-Wei

publication date

  • 2023