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The Nitrogen Economy of Marine and Land Environments

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Book cover Food Chains and Human Nutrition

Abstract

Biological productivity in the terrestrial biosphere involves the incorporation of various chemical elements into living matter and their subsequent return to the inanimate environment. The elements involved are those that participate in the structure of living things, the ‘biological elements’, and their transitions from inorganic to organic combination and back can be formalised as cycles. The carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles are familiar illustrations of the global turnover of these elements in the biosphere; they are the resultants of both biological and chemical action in the relevant elements and their compounds, modified by translocation processes (diffusion, solution, evaporation, sedimentation and so on). Though they involve the participation of all living things, it is axiomatic that micro-organisms, particularly bacteria and fungi, are of crucial importance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC Unit of Nitrogen Fixation, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    John R. Postgate

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  1. John R. Postgate
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, UK

    Kenneth Blaxter (Director) (Director)

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© 1980 Applied Science Publishers Ltd

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Postgate, J.R. (1980). The Nitrogen Economy of Marine and Land Environments. In: Blaxter, K. (eds) Food Chains and Human Nutrition. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7336-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7336-0_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7338-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-7336-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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