Question 1 Report
The diagram shows the nitrogen cycle. Arrow X converts ammonium compounds into nitrates.
Ammonium compounds released when proteins decay are converted into nitrates in well-aerated soil. Which type of bacteria carries out this conversion?
In well-aerated soil, nitrifying bacteria oxidise the ammonium compounds released by decay into nitrates, the form plants absorb most readily; this step is called nitrification. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria act on nitrogen gas, not ammonium, and denitrifying bacteria do the opposite by turning nitrate back into nitrogen gas; there is no such thing as carbon-fixing bacteria in this cycle. Keep the two easily confused steps apart: fixation is gas to compound, while nitrification is ammonium to nitrate.
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