All microorganisms, including nitrogen-fixing bacteria, build their bodies from the very same elements that plants use for growth.  Where these mineral elements are abundant in soil, the entire soil body is more alive and carries much more biomass at all levels from bacteria through insects, plants, and even mammals.

Should any of these vital nutrient substances be in short supply, all biomass and plant growth will decrease to the level permitted by the amount available, even though there is an overabundance of all the rest.  The name for this phenomena is the “Law of Limiting Factors.”  The concept of limits was first formulated by a scientist, Justus von Liebig, in the middle of the last century.  Although Liebig’s name is not popular with organic gardeners and farmers because misconceptions of his ideas have led to the widespread use of chemical fertilizers, Liebig’s theory of limits is still good science.

Liebig suggested imagining a barrel being filled with water as a metaphor for plant growth:  the amount of water held in the barrel being the amount of growth.  Each stave represents one of the factors or requirements plants need in order to grow such as light, water, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, boron, etc.  Lowering any one stave of the barrel, no matter which one, lessens the amount of water that can be held and thus growth is reduced to the level of the most limited growth factor.

For example, one essential plant protein is called chlorophyll, the green pigment found in leaves that makes sugar through photosynthesis.  Chlorophyll is a protein containing significant amounts of magnesium.  Obviously, the plant’s ability to grow is limited by its ability to find enough fixed nitrogen and also magnesium to make this protein.

Animals of all sizes from elephants to single cell microorganisms are primarily composed of protein.  But the greatest portion of plant material is not protein, it is carbohydrates in one form or another.  Eating enough carbohydrates to supply their energy requirements is rarely the survival problem faced by animals; finding enough protein (and other vital nutrients) in their food supply to grow and reproduce is what limits their population.  The numbers and health of grazing animals is limited by the protein and other nutrient content of the grasses they are eating, similarly the numbers and health of primary decomposers living on the forest floor is limited by the nutrient content of their food.  And so is the rate of decomposition.  And so too is this true in the compost pile.