Abstract
An extremely tight coupling was found between microalgal biomass decreases and nitrification in a shallow dirt pond filled with coastal seawater after a spring tide. Degradation of half the phytoplankton standing crop and transformation into dissolved nitrate occurred within 2–3 days without accumulation of intermediate compounds such as ammonium or nitrite. The event time scale was of the order of one week, starting with a sub-zero water temperature, followed by a two-fold decrease in chlorophyll- a and particulate nitrogen, a simultaneous two-fold increase in nitrate over 48 h, and ending with recovery of the phytoplankton population within five days. A second event then started with a new period of cold weather. These mesocosm events were duplicated in a 2-1 microcosm, showing that nitrification had taken place in the water column for the most part, and can proceed at sub-zero temperatures very efficiently.
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