Biological nitrogen fixation is a key driver of global primary production and climate. Decades of effort have repeatedly updated nitrogen fixation estimates for terrestrial and open ocean systems, yet other aquatic systems in between have largely been ignored. Here we present an evaluation of nitrogen fixation for inland and coastal waters. We demonstrate that water column and sediment nitrogen fixation is ubiquitous across these diverse aquatic habitats, with rates ranging six orders of magnitude. We conservatively estimate that, despite accounting for less than 10% of the global surface area, inland and coastal aquatic systems fix 40 (30 to 54) teragrams of nitrogen per year, equivalent to 15% of the nitrogen fixed on land and in the open ocean. Inland systems contribute more than half of this biological nitrogen fixation.

Aix Marseille Univ Université de Toulon CNRS IRD MIO UM 110 Marseille France

Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division United States Environmental Protection Agency Narragansett RI USA

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Millbrook NY USA

Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden

Department of Biodiversity Earth and Environmental Science Drexel University Philadelphia PA USA

Department of Biological Sciences Michigan Technological University Houghton MI USA

Department of Biology Baylor University Waco TX USA

Department of Biology Boston University Boston MA USA

Department of Earth and Environment Boston University Boston MA USA

Department of Natural Science Hawai'i Pacific University Honolulu HI USA

Earth and Environmental Science CUNY Advanced Science Research Center Brooklyn College New York NY USA

Flathead Lake Biological Station University of Montana Polson MT USA

Institute of Environmental Studies Charles University Prague Czech Republic

National Oceanography Centre European Way Southampton UK

School for Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA

School of Marine Science and Policy University of Delaware Lewes DE USA

School of Natural and Environmental Sciences Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne UK

School of the Environment Washington State University Richland WA USA

Turing Center for Living Systems Aix Marseille University Marseille France

Water Quality and Ecology Research Unit National Sedimentation Laboratory Agricultural Research Service United States Department of Agriculture Oxford MS USA

Water Resources Science University of Minnesota St Paul MN USA

Science. 2025 Jun 12;388(6752):1130-1131. doi: 10.1126/science.ady3520. PubMed

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