Rates of Nitrification along an Estuarine Gradient in Narragansett Bay

Abstract

Rates of pelagic nitrification, measured using N-Serve-sensitive [14C]bicarbonate uptake, varied by as much as an order-of-magnitude among three sites along the salinity gradient of Narragansett Bay (Rhode Island, United States). Rates were always higher at the Providence River estuary site (0.04–11.2 μmol N I−1 d−1) than at either the lower Narragansett Bay site (0.02–0.98 μmol N I−1d−1) or the freshwater Blackstone River site (0.04–1.7 μmol N I−1d−1). Although temperature was the most important variable regulating the annual cycle of nitrification, ammonium concentrations were most likely responsible for the large differences in rates among the three sites in summer. At the levels found in this estuarine system, salinity and concentrations of oxygen or total suspended matter did not appear to have a direct measurable effect on nitrification and pH did only occasionally. Nitrification played an important role in the nitrogen cycle at all three sites. In Narragansett Bay, nitrification contributed 55% of the NO2 − and NO3 − entering annually, and was the major source during spring and summer. Water from offshore was the only other large source of NO2 − and NO3 −, contributing 34%. High summer rates of nitrification could support much of the phytoplankton uptake of NO2 − and NO3 −. In the Providence River estuary, the largest annual input of NO2 − and NO3 − was from rivers (54%), although nitrification (28%) and water from lower portions of the bay (11%) also made large contributions. Again, nitrification was most important in the summer. The high rates of nitrification in the Providence River estuary during summer were also likely to be important in terms of oxygen demand, and the production of nitric and nitrous oxides. In the Blackstone River, NO2 − and NO3 − concentrations increased as the river flowed through Rhode Island, and nitrification was a possible source.