Sediment Denitrification in Two Contrasting Tropical Shallow Lagoons
Autores
Enrich-Prast, A., Santoro, A.L., Coutinho, R.S., Nielsen, L.P. and Esteves, F.A.
Publicado en
Estuaries and Coasts, v. 39(3):657-663
Año de publicación
2016
Afiliaciones
Laboratório de Biogeoquímica, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, (RJ) 21941-971, Brazil
Department of Environmental Change, Linköping University, 581, 83 Linköping, Sweden
Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, (RJ) 21941-971, Brazil
Department of Biology, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 114, DK8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ecologia e Desenvolvimento Sócio-ambiental de Macaé – NUPEM, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Av. Rotary Club, s/n, Macaé, RJ CEP 28970-000, São José do Barreto, Brazil
Sediment denitrification was monthly evaluated in two tropical coastal lagoons with different trophic states using the 15N isotope pairing technique. Denitrification rates were very low in both environments, always <5.0μmol N2 m-2 h-1and were not significantly different between them. Oxygen consumption varied from 426 to 4248 μmol O2 m-2 h-1 and was generally three times higher in the meso-eutrophic than the oligotrophic lagoon. The low denitrification activity was ascribed to both low water NO3– concentrations (<2.0 μM) and little nitrate supply from nitrification. There was no correlation of denitrification with nitrate or ammonium fluxes. Sediments in temperate environments with similar oxygen consumption rates usually presented a higher proportion of nitrification&ndashdenitrification rates. Sediment oxygen consumption was a good predictor of sediment denitrification in both studied lagoons.