Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Biogeochemistry is the study of how chemical elements flow through living systems and their physical environments. It investigates the factors that influence cycles of key elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous.
Mariculture, or aquaculture in marine coastal environments, can contribute towards projected food demand increases. Greenhouse gas emissions from mariculture, including methane and nitrous oxide, could be 40% lower than emissions from land-based aquaculture.
Chemical regimes of atmospheric secondary inorganic aerosol formation and nitrogen deposition in rural areas of the USA shifted from ammonia-sensitive to ammonia-insensitive between 2011 and 2020, according to analyses of long-term observations. These regime shifts led to a reduction in ammonium in aerosols and increased ammonia deposition near emission hotspots.
Contrary to current model predictions, this study shows that rapid permafrost thaw in well drained uplands leads to exceedingly high methane emissions ( ~ 10-60 times higher than expected) from deeply-thawed yedoma soils, particularly in winter.
Iron oxides serve as both adsorbents and catalysts to generate inorganic phosphorus from organic phosphorus in environmental matrices. This abiotic dephosphorylation, which is comparable to enzymatic rates, is a missing piece in phosphorus cycling.
This study examines the impact of herbivorous insects on biogeochemical cycling within forests. From a global network of 74 plots within 40 mature, undisturbed broadleaved forests, they show that background levels of insect herbivory are sufficiently large to alter both ecosystem element cycling and influence terrestrial carbon cycling.
Mariculture, or aquaculture in marine coastal environments, can contribute towards projected food demand increases. Greenhouse gas emissions from mariculture, including methane and nitrous oxide, could be 40% lower than emissions from land-based aquaculture.
Chemical regimes of atmospheric secondary inorganic aerosol formation and nitrogen deposition in rural areas of the USA shifted from ammonia-sensitive to ammonia-insensitive between 2011 and 2020, according to analyses of long-term observations. These regime shifts led to a reduction in ammonium in aerosols and increased ammonia deposition near emission hotspots.
A field experiment in Uganda shows how potassium and phosphorus keep leaves functioning during times of water scarcity, highlighting the need to consider ecosystem-scale processes in studying the response of forests to nutrient limitation.
Not accounting for coupled land–water carbon fluxes can lead to flawed understanding and incorrect assessments of climate impact and feedback on the Arctic carbon cycle. There is a need for collaborative studies, between scientific disciplines and approaches, that integrate carbon transformations and fluxes across the Arctic land–water continuum.
The vast stores of high-latitude peatland carbon are thought to be resistant to microbial degradation, but a multi-omics investigation suggests this might not be the case.