High‐nitrogen fixation rates in the particulate and dissolved pools in the Western Tropical Pacific (Solomon and Bismarck Seas)

Abstract

Abstract Dinitrogen (N 2 ) fixation rates were investigated in the euphotic layer of the Bismarck and Solomon Seas using 15 N 2 incubation assays taking into account both the particulate and the dissolved pools. Average depth‐integrated particulate N 2 fixation rates were 203 (range 43–399) and 1396 (range 176–3132) μmol N m −2 d −1 in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas, respectively. In both seas, N 2 fixation measured in the dissolved pool was similar to particulate N 2 fixation, highlighting the potentially substantial underestimation of N 2 fixation in oceanic budgets when only particulate N 2 fixation is considered. Among the diazotroph phylotypes targeted using quantitative polymerase chain reaction amplification of nifH genes, Trichodesmium was the most abundant. Regression analyses suggest that it accounted for the major proportion of N 2 fixation. However, unicellular cyanobacterial and non‐cyanobacterial diazotrophs were also occasionally abundant. This study reports high pelagic N 2 fixation rates and confirms that the Western Tropical South Pacific is a hot spot for marine N 2 fixation.