Abstract: Rare soil organisms are normally considered of less importance for ecosystem functioning. We present results that oppose this view. In otherwise well-aerated soils, anaerobic/microaerophilic production or consumption of the trace gas N 2O occurs in small soil volumes, when intense decomposition activity at the site leads to local oxygen depletion. At such patch scales, the control of microbial growth and oxygen consumption may depend on the specific organisms present. We assessed N 2O turnover in an experiment, where soil dilution from 10 −2 ...
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Topics: 
Environmental chemistry
Agronomy
Ecology