Abstract
Dissimilatory nitrate reductions and inorganic nitrogen pools in intertidal sediments of Delaware Inlet near Nelson, New Zealand, were studied between March 1981 and January 1982. The acetylene block technique was used in sediment cores to estimate rates of in situ denitrification. In the top 10.5 cm of sediment the denitrification rates were 1.2 to 11.0 mg N m-2d-1 (Juncus maritimus marsh), 1.6 to 7.9 mg N m-2d-1 (sand-flat, colonised by Euglena spp. and Oscillatoria spp.), and 1.2 to 6.0 mg N m-2d-1 (Zostera novazelandica bed). These rates were similar to those obtained in an earlier denitrification study of a Delaware Inlet mudflat. The highest in situ activity varied between the top 1.5 cm (eelgrass bed) and the 6 to 9 cm layer (sand-flat). Denitrification capacities as determined by the acetylene block technique in nitratesaturated sediment slurries generally decreased with depth and were 1943, 163, and 136 mg N m-2d-1, respectively, in the top 10.5 cm of marsh, sandflat and eelgrass bed. A comparison with another study suggested net denitrification, except in the sand-flat during blooms of N-fixing benthic microalgae when these areas are sources of bound N. A combination of the acetylene block technique and 15N techniques in both sediment slurres and intact cores showed that 70 to 95% of the reduced nitrate was denitrified, with the rest being reduced to ammonium. The inorganic N pool in the top 10.5 cm of the mud-flat ranged from 130 mg N m-2 in autumn to 420 mg N m-2 in spring, and in the sand-flat it ranged from 100 to 287 mg N m-2. Generally, ammonium was the dominant component of this pool. In spring, nitrate concentrations increased, and in the sand-flat it transiently became the major inorganic N species. The ammonium and nitrate profiles suggest an export of inorganic nitrogen from the intertidal sediments.
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Communicated by G. F. Humphrey, Sydney
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Kaspar, H.F. Denitrification, nitrate reduction to ammonium, and inoganic nitrogen pools in intetidal sediments. Mar. Biol. 74, 133–139 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413916
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413916