Planet's nitrogen cycle overturned by 'tiny ammonia eater of the seas'
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 14:07
in Biology & Nature
It's not every day you find clues to the planet's inner workings in aquarium scum. But that's what happened a few years ago when University of Washington researchers cultured a tiny organism from the bottom of a Seattle Aquarium tank and found it can digest ammonia, a key environmental function. New results show this minute organism and its brethren play a more central role in the planet's ecology than previously suspected.