Abstract
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 199:1-11 (2000) - doi:10.3354/meps199001 Nitrogen cycling in sediments of the Lagoon of Venice, Italy Jonas Martin Svensson1,*, Giovanni Marco Carrer2, Martina Bocci2 1Department of Ecology/Limnology, Ecology Building, University of Lund, 223 62 Lund, Sweden 2Dipartimento di Processi Chimici dell¹ingegneria, Universitá di Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35 131 Padova, Italy *E-mail: jonas.svensson@limnol.lu.se ABSTRACT: In order to identify the importance of different areas for nitrogen retention in the Lagoon of Venice, Italy, undisturbed sediment cores of different origin were collected in late April 1998. The cores were transferred to the laboratory and incubated for denitrification activity using the method of Œnitrogen isotope pairingŒ. The sampled sediments were collected in a freshwater stream (Stn A), an intertidal area (Stn B), in an area characterised by Ulva sp. (Stn C) and in an area vegetated by Zostera sp. (Stn D). Stn D was close to the lagoon outlet (mouth) and highly affected by tidal actions. The ambient concentrations of water column nitrate ranged from 132 to 4.4 µM. The highest denitrification rate was found in the area with the highest concentration of water nitrate, i.e. at Stns A and B, 292 ± 75 and 204 ± 52 µmol m-2 h-1, respectively. Sediment denitrification in the areas closer the lagoon outlet was significantly lower, 16 ± 2 µmol m-2 h-1 at Stn C and 11 ± 2 µmol m-2 h-1 at Stn D. Oxygen and nitrate consumption, release of ammonium and denitrification in the sediment at Stn B was correlated to the biomass of benthic infauna. About 30% of the denitrification in the B sediment was explained by the presence of benthic infauna. More than 50% of the denitrification in the sediment at Stn D was due to denitrification of nitrate produced by nitrification. KEY WORDS: Denitrification · Sediment · Bioturbation · Lagoon of Venice Full text in pdf format NextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 199. Publication date: June 26, 2000 Print ISSN:0171-8630; Online ISSN:1616-1599 Copyright © 2000 Inter-Research.
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