articleProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesMay 13, 2025HYBRID OA

Global patterns of nutrient limitation in soil microorganisms

YCYongxing CuiSPShushi PengMCMatthias C. RilligTCTessa CamenzindMDManuel Delgado‐Baquerizo

Peking University · Freie Universität Berlin · +15 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

The availability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is essential for soil microbial activity and growth, yet global patterns of N and P limitation in soil microbial metabolism remain largely unknown. We modeled ecoenzyme stoichiometry data from 5,259 field observations of natural ecosystems to assess microbial N and P limitation in global surface soils. We found that microbial P limitation, which was especially strong at low latitudes, was more prevalent globally than microbial N limitation, which prevailed in cold environments. We also found widespread N and P colimitation in soil microorganisms in the tropics, contradicting the long-held paradigm that P, and not N, is the primary limiting nutrient at low…

Citation impact

43
total citations
FWCI
38.79
Percentile
100%
References
65
Citations per year

Authors

16

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Nutrient
  • Microorganism
  • Tropics
  • Environmental science
  • Ecosystem
  • Soil water
  • Global change
  • Phosphorus
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Life in Land
No related works found for this paper.

Funding