Dr. Zuozhu Wen recently joined the College of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Xiamen University (XMU) as an Associate Professor, and became a member of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL) in May 2024.
Dr. Wen received his PhD in Environmental Science in 2019 at Xiamen University, supervised by Professor Dalin Shi. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at Xiamen University and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. During his time at GEOMAR from 2021 to 2023, he collaborated with Professor Eric Achterberg and Thomas J. Browning on biological nitrogen fixation.
Dr. Wen's research focuses on the marine biological N2 fixation, a microbially mediated process, converts N2 into biologically available nitrogen—connecting the large atmospheric pool of N2 to the biosphere. This biologically fixed nitrogen fuels primary production and enhances carbon storage and carbon export in the ocean, thus ultimately affecting Earth’s climate through atmospheric carbon dioxide regulation.
Fig. 1. Dr. Wen Zuozhu aboard the German R/V Meteor in 2015.
Over the past decade, Dr. Wen has participated in research expeditions across the South China Sea, the western North Pacific Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the subarctic Bering Sea, accumulating more than 400 days of fieldwork at sea. By integrating stable isotope chemistry, molecular biology, and multi-omics approaches, he has made a series of significant contributions to understanding key questions such as the biogeographical distribution and environmental regulation of nitrogen fixation, the release and transfer of newly fixed nitrogen, and the impacts of ocean acidification on the physiology and ecology of diazotrophs. Dr. Wen has published multiple papers in leading journals, including Science Advances, Nature Communications, PNAS, Geophysical Research Letters, and Biogeosciences. His future research aims to: (1) elucidate the spatiotemporal variability of biological nitrogen fixation and its controlling factors at the ocean-basin scale; (2) explore the diversity, activity, and regulatory mechanisms of non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs in the ocean; and (3) investigate nitrogen fixation in coastal waters and sediments, along with the underlying mechanisms.
For more information about Dr. Zuozhu Wen, please visit his website at https://mel2.xmu.edu.cn/faculty/ZuozhuWen or contact him via email at wzz@xmu.edu.cn.
