Nitrogen Cycle Definitions

Question	Answer
NH3	Ammonia gas
NH4+	Ammonium solid. One of the forms of N taken up by plants.
NO2-	Nitrite. Toxic to plants, reaction from NH4+ to NO2- to NO3- is very quick.
NO3-	Nitrate. One of the forms of N taken up by plants.
N Fixation	Process by which gaseous elemental N is chemically combined with H to form ammonia (NH3)
Immobilization	The conversion of an element from the inorganic to the organic form in microbial tissues or in plant tissues, rendering it unavailable to plants
Denitrification	The biochemical reduction of nitrate or nitrite to gaseous N, either as N2 or as an oxide of N
Mineralization	The conversion of an element from an organic form to an inorganic state as a result of microbial decomposition

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	Created by Leah Jones about 8 years ago