Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mooshammer M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3997803 | biostudies-other | 2014
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Nature communications 20140416
Microbial nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) describes the partitioning of organic N taken up between growth and the release of inorganic N to the environment (that is, N mineralization), and is thus central to our understanding of N cycling. Here we report empirical evidence that microbial decomposer communities in soil and plant litter regulate their NUE. We find that microbes retain most immobilized organic N (high NUE), when they are N limited, resulting in low N mineralization. However, when the ...[more]