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The Flax Pond Ecosystem Study: Exchanges of Inorganic Nitrogen Between An Estuarine Marsh and Long Island Sound
Author(s) -
Woodwell G. M.,
Hall C. A. S.,
Whitney D. E.,
Houghton R. A.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1936606
Subject(s) - estuary , environmental science , nitrate , hydrology (agriculture) , ammonium , precipitation , sound (geography) , oceanography , marsh , salt marsh , nitrogen , spring (device) , ecology , wetland , geography , chemistry , biology , geology , mechanical engineering , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , meteorology , engineering
The concentrations of inorganic nitrogen ions were measured in the tidal water flushing Flax Pond, an estuarine marsh on the north shore of Long Island, New York, USA. The basic sampling unit was one tidal cycle during which eight subsamples were taken, four on the flood and four on the ebb. The sampling was approximately weekly during 20 mo. Concentrations of the three forms of nitrogen (nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium) varied seasonally and with the periodic occurrence of algal blooms. Concentrations were highest in winter and lowest in spring and early summer, but details of the pattern of abundance differed among the ions. There was a net discharge of nitrogen in the ammonium form from Flax Pond during summer and fall and a net input from the Sound in winter and spring. The net exchanges during 1 yr were zero for nitrite, an influx of nitrate of about 1 g N/m 2 to the marsh, and a release of about 2 g ammonium—N/m 2 into the Sound. The net total exchange was a release into Long Island Sound of approximately 1 g N/m 2 of marsh, an amount not statistically different from zero. Crude estimations of the total inorganic N—budget of Long Island Sound suggest that estuaries, precipitation, and rivers each contributed approximately equal inputs in earlier times.