Microbial niche partitioning explains N(2)O distributions and cycling in marine oxygen minimum zones.

Microbial niche partitioning in marine oxygen minimum zones explains the characteristic double-peaked N2O distribution without relying on physiological oxygen thresholds.

• Why it matters: Understanding the mechanisms behind N2O accumulation in OMZs is crucial because N2O is a potent greenhouse gas, and its cycling impacts global climate change.
• What they did: A trait-based ecosystem model was embedded into an eddy-resolving simulation of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific OMZ, focusing on microbial interactions, competition, and metabolite exchange among functional types.
• The result: The model shows that niche partitioning and producer-consumer coupling maintain low N2O in anoxic cores and drive accumulation in oxyclines, offering insights into future shifts in marine nitrogen cycling and N2O emissions.