05/02/2019 Notícia

CREAF researchers challenge the notion that nitrification occurs only in soil

Comparteix

Human-induced increase in nitrogen deposition profoundly alters nitrogen (N) cycling globally. Yet, the ultimate fate of nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystems isn’t fully understood. Rossella Guerrieri, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow in CREAF sheds light on the overlooked leaf microbial transformations of nitrogen deposition and its contribution to N cycling.

Imagen de las acumulaciones de nitrógeno en las hojas estudiadas. Autora: Rossella Guerrieri
Imagen de las acumulaciones de nitrógeno en las hojas estudiadas. Autora: Rossella Guerrieri

The EU-funded NITRIPHYLL project “aimed at challenging the paradigm that the microbes involved in forest N cycling are limited to the soil and hence that N depostion is exclusively processed in the soil,” says project coordinator Dr Maurizio Mencuccini, ICREA researcher from CREAF. The project aimed to prove that the leaf microbes carry out nitrification, thereby helping to cycle N before leaves return to the soil as litter. In collaboration with project partners, Dr Rossella Guerrieri and Dr Mencuccini produced a unique data set characterising, in a novel way, 12 forest sites within the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests). NITRIPHYLL attracted the attention of communities working at the interface between research and policymakers, such as ICP Forests, one of the world’s largest biomonitoring networks providing extensive information on the condition of forests in Europe and beyond.

Read the full information in CORDIS webpage

Rossella Guerrieri Webpage

Notícies relacionades

Protagonistes
Diana_Pascual_Sanchez_CREAF
Protagonistes

Diana Pascual o la vida a través del bosc

Notícia
Mireia Banqué, reconeixement DEBOSCAT Agents Rurals CREAF
Notícia

El CREAF rep una distinció dels Agents Rurals pel projecte Deboscat

Reportatge
Per què es posen marrons les fulles a la tardor? CREAF
Reportatge

Per què es posen marrons les fulles a la tardor?