Nitrogen fixation microbial mats

Bebout, B.M., Fitzpatrick, M.W., and Paerl, H.W. (1993) Identification of the sources of energy for nitrogen fixation and physiological characterization of nitrogen-fixing members of a marine microbial mat community. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59, 1495-1503. 

Bebout, B.M., Paerl, H.W., Bauer, J.E., Canfield, D.E., and Des Marais, DJ. (1994) Nitrogen cycling in microbial mat communities the quantitative importance of N-fixation and other sources of N for primary productivity. In Microbial Mats (Lucas, J., and Caumette, P., eds.), pp. 32-42, Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 

Joye, S.B., and Paerl, H.W. (1993) Contemporaneous nitrogen fixation and denitrification in marine microbial mats rapid response to runoff events. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 94, 267-274. 

Paerl, H. W., Fitzpatrick, M., and Bebout, B. M. (1996). Seasonal nitrogen fixation dynamics in a marine microbial mat Potential roles of cyanobacteria and microheterotrophs. Limnol. Oceanogr. 41, 419-427. 

Joye, S. B., and Paerl, H. W. (1994). Nitrogen cycling in microbial mats rates and patterns of denitrification and nitrogen fixation. Mar. Biol. 119, 285—295. 

Nitrogen fixation in the marine environment occurs in benthic (sediments and microbial mats) and pelagic environments, and in salt marsh soils (see Carpenter and Capone, Chapter 4, this volume). Since very diverse microorganisms that span the Bacteria and Archaea domains of life can fix nitrogen, it is often difficult to ascertain which organisms are responsible for observed nitrogen fixation rates. Our discussion of the application of molecular approaches to the study of marine nitrogen fixation is brief because it has been reviewed extensively elsewhere (Carpenter and Capone, Chapter 4, this volume Foster and O MuUan Chapter 27, this volume Scanlan and Post, Chapter 24, this volume Paerl and Zehr, 2000 Zehr and Ward, 2002 Zehr et al., 2003). 

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