The corners of mouth appear ready to leap into a full smile at any moment. Ward wants to understand how oceans cope with nitrogen. The oceans, the atmosphere, and the land exchange nitrogen gas and chemical compounds built from nitrogen, including ammonium and nitrous oxide. This continuous swapping is called the nitrogen cycle. Ward is trying to uncover the exact role of ocean bacteria in this cycle since they trade nitrogen with ocean water as they excrete and breathe.
Bacteria pervade every gallon of every sea, and they have a monumental effect on ocean chemistry.
Understanding the oceans' nitrogen cycle becomes more crucial every year as scientists recognize that the planet's delicate nitrogen balance is changing rapidly. The ESA warns that humans are setting changes in motion without perceiving the consequences. World agriculture used more nitrogen fertilizer in the 1980s than in the entire history of agriculture prior to 1980. A great amount of that fertilizer finds its way to the oceans. The ammonia in fertilizers flees readily into the air, and from there, the nitrogen is just one rainy step from the sea.