氮，是构成地球生命体的基础元素之一，广泛存在于大气中，却无法被绝大多数生物直接利用。因此氮成为限制陆地和水生生态系统初级生产力的关键元素。在广袤的海洋中，光合浮游植物作为初级生产者，构筑起整个海洋食物网的基础，并深刻影响着全球碳循环。然而，约70%的海域都因氮营养盐稀缺而限制了浮游植物的生长。
在这片氮受限的蓝色荒漠中，一类特殊的微生物——“固氮生物”——扮演起了“海洋施肥者”的关键角色。它们能通过固氮酶复合体的催化作用，将大气中惰性氮气（N₂）转化为生物可利用的氨（NH₃），为贫氮海域输送养分，从而提升海洋初级生产力，并助力大气中CO₂的吸收与封存。然而，固氮生物在海洋中究竟如何分布？受哪些环境因子调控？又如何响应全球气候变化？这些关键的科学问题都因缺乏系统性的观测和研究仍有待阐明。
温作柱博士对海洋生物固氮领域的探索始于研究生阶段，他聚焦“分布格局”、“调控因子”、“气候响应”等关键问题，运用稳定同位素示踪、分子生物学与多组学等学科交叉的技术手段，研究区域从台湾海峡近岸海区延伸至中国南海海盆，并进一步拓展至西北太平洋，系统刻画了这些海域固氮速率、固氮生物群落组成及其空间分布特征。他的研究首次发现了该海区固氮作用的铁、磷营养盐限制存在显著的空间变异性；结合资源竞争模型分析，首次证实Fe:N供给比是北太平洋副热带流涡区的固氮作用生物地理学分布的首要调控因子；阐明海洋酸化对西北太平洋及其边缘海生物固氮的影响，揭示了铁、磷营养盐对海洋酸化效应的调控作用及其机制。这些成果为构建中国边缘海及邻近大洋海区生物固氮作用的知识体系提供了重要科学依据和理论支撑。
温作柱博士的“视野”不仅于此，在博士后期间，他远赴德国，参与了多个国际大洋科学考察航次，横跨南太平洋和大西洋，截止目前累计出海400余天。近年来，他更是将目光投向了鲜为问津的亚北极-极地海区。依托多个航次的观测与数据积累，他对海洋生物固氮的驱动机制及区域特征进行了深入解析和探索。
图1 温作柱博士2021年摄于德国“Meteor”号科考船
未来，温作柱博士的研究将主要围绕以下三个方面深化拓展：
1） 跨海盆尺度生物固氮作用的时空变异及其主控机制；
2） 海洋非蓝藻固氮生物的多样性、固氮活性及其调控机制；
3） 滨海湿地水体和沉积物生物固氮作用及其固氮机理。
如有兴趣了解温作柱博士的更多情况，欢迎访问其个人主页https://mel2.xmu.edu.cn/faculty/ZuozhuWen/或联系wzz@xmu.edu.cn 。
个人名片：
温作柱博士于2019年获厦门大学环境科学博士学位， 2020至2024年间作为厦门大学和德国亥姆霍兹基尔海洋研究中心（GEOMAR）联合培养博士后开展研究工作，并于2024年5月正式入职厦门大学，担任副教授，同时成为海洋生物地球化学全国重点实验室固定科研人员。温作柱博士目前已经在Science Advances、Nature Communications、PNAS、Geophysical Research Letters、 Biogeosciences等国际主流期刊上发表了多篇文章，并担任Limnology and Oceanography、Global Biogeochemical Cycles、Frontiers in Marine Science等多个知名期刊的审稿人。
Dr. Zuozhu Wen --- A Young Scientist Working on Marine Biological Nitrogen Fixation
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.
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.
