The Nitrogen Cycle in the Ocean

The Nutrient Group was established in May 2005 as an independent junior research group funded by the Max Planck Society. Research focuses on processes that control nutrient nitrogen availability in past and present marine environments. Specifically, environmental regulation of these processes and their effects on global biogeochemical cycles are investigated. As these cycling processes are typcially mediated by microorganisms, combinations of newly developed geochemical, microbiological and molecular-ecological techniques are applied in these studies. One of the current projects of the Nutrient Group is an elucidation on the role of the recently described anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) within the oceanic nitrogen cycle.