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Heterotrophic nitrogen fixation in response to nitrate loading and sediment organic matter in an emerging coastal deltaic floodplain within the Mississippi River Delta plain
Author(s) -
Li Song,
Twilley Robert R.,
Hou Aixin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.1002/lno.11737
Subject(s) - denitrification , benthic zone , eutrophication , nitrate , sediment , organic matter , environmental science , environmental chemistry , nitrogen cycle , hydrology (agriculture) , nitrogen fixation , floodplain , dominance (genetics) , nitrogen , ecology , geology , oceanography , nutrient , chemistry , biology , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , biochemistry , gene
Abstract Increasing nitrate (NO 3 − ) loading in rivers due to agricultural fertilization alters benthic nitrogen (N) cycling and shifts coastal wetlands from being a net source to net sink of reactive N. Heterotrophic N 2 fixation that converts N 2 to reactive N is often assumed negligible in eutrophic ecosystems and excluded in coastal N budget evaluations. We investigated N 2 fixation and denitrification in response to increasing NO 3 − loading (0, 10, and 100  μ M) and sediment organic matter (OM sediment ) concentrations in the emerging Wax Lake Delta. Continuous flow‐through incubations with 30 N 2 addition was applied to measure N 2 fixation. The variation of N 2 fixation rates from 0 to 437  μ mol N m −2 h −1 among different NO 3 − and OM sediment concentrations were comparable to the estimated denitrification rates of 141–377  μ mol N m −2 h −1 . Increasing overlying NO 3 − concentrations reduced N 2 fixation rates and facilitated denitrification rates at each OM sediment concentration. However, 100  μ M of overlying NO 3 − did not thoroughly inhibit N 2 fixation rates in sites with intermediate and higher OM sediment concentrations (189 and 99  μ mol N m −2 h −1 , respectively). Both N 2 fixation and denitrification increased with increasing OM sediment concentrations, but the relative importance of these processes was impacted mostly by overlying NO 3 − concentration as increasing NO 3 − switched the dominance of N 2 fixation to denitrification in benthic N cycling. This study highlights the importance of heterotrophic N 2 fixation in coastal deltaic floodplains and emphasizes the necessity of including N 2 fixation quantification in coastal N budget evaluation, not only in oligotrophic environment but also in eutrophic environment.

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