Blog # 2: Nitrogen Cycling

Denitrification

Plants require nitrogen in order to grow and prosper, and we require plants, in one way or another, to do the same. Soil provides adequate habitat for anaerobic bacteria that are capable of transforming atmospheric nitrogen into molecular nitrogen (N2), which is a usable form of nitrogen as far as plants are concerned (atmospheric nitrogen is not able to be absorbed by plants). The cycling of nitrogen is an ecological service because plants transform energy from the sun into usable energy for all organisms on earth, and without any organisms, there would be no ecology. Microorganisms (including nitrogen fixing anaerobic bacteria) are dependent on soil for habitat; in fact they are just one part of what makes soil, soil. Therefore denitrification is a process of soil itself. Because of soil, microorganisms can exist, because of these microorganisms, plants can exist, and because plants exist, the rest of us can too. Hoorah.