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Abstract Plants associated with symbiotic N‐fixing bacteria play important roles in early successional, riparian and semi‐dry ecosystems. These so‐called N‐fixing plants are widely used for reclamation of disturbed vegetation and improvement of soil fertility in agroforestry. Yet, available information about plants that are capable of establishing nodulation is fragmented and somewhat outdated. This article introduces the Nod DB database of N‐fixing plants based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence (available at https://doi.org/10.15156/bio/587469 ) and discusses plant groups with conflicting reports and interpretation, such as certain legume clades and the Zygophyllaceae family. During angiosperm evolution, N‐fixing plants became common in the fabid rather than in the ‘nitrogen‐fixing’ clade. The global GBIF plant species distribution data indicated that N‐fixing plants tend to be relatively more diverse in savanna and semi‐desert biomes. The compiled and re‐interpreted information about N‐fixing plants enables accurate analyses of biogeography and community ecology of biological N fixation.
Tedersoo et al. (Mon,) studied this question.