Across fourteen LTERs, soil carbon is a “gatekeeper” on the nitrogen cycle
![A researcher in an orange vest stands atop a brown and green forest floor with white sampling equipment in front of her and a round puck of soil below her feet.](https://lternet.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DSCN2282-400x300.jpg)
An LTER cross site synthesis effort reveals that soil carbon availability determines nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates across a wide diversity of terrestrial ecosystems.