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IMAGE: Tropical forests in Panama are threatened due to agriculture, mining, development, and climate change. Reforestation is an important strategy to protect the tropical carbon sink. Nitrogen-fixing trees are known to. view more
Credit: Credit: Sarah Batterman.
A new study, published this week in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that nitrogen-fixing trees play an underrecognized role in recovering tropical forests by enriching nutrient-poor soils with scarce elements such as phosphorus and molybdenum.
Coauthor Sarah Batterman, a tropical forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, explains, We ve long known that nitrogen-fixing trees work with soil microbes to make atmospheric nitrogen available to plants. Our study found that nitrogen fixers also play a vital role in unlocking other nutrients by weathering rocks beneath their roots. These nutrients include things like phosphorus, which is very limited in tropical fo