Response of denitrification rate associated with wetting and drying cycles in a littoral wetland area of Lake Biwa, Japan

Abstract

To clarify the relationship between denitrification activity and dry–wet levels in the littoral wetland sediments of Lake Biwa, Japan, denitrification rates and their regulating parameters (degree of dryness, redox potential, nitrate concentration) were measured on different moisture sediments. Redox potential in sediments was higher in the exposed region in contact with atmosphere than the flooded region covered with water. The nitrate concentration in interstitial waters was undetectable in the flooded region. On the other hand, concentration in the exposed region increased with increase in the degree of sediment dryness. The denitrification rate ranged from <0.001 to 0.88 μg N cm−3 h−1 in the exposed region and increased with the increase in the degree of dryness. In the flooded region, on the other hand, no detectable rate (<0.001 μg N cm−3 h−1) was observed. This indicates that the rates in the exposed region were mainly influenced by nitrate concentration in the interstitial waters accumulated by desiccation of sediments, whereas rates in the flooded region were strongly limited by no accumulation of nitrate in the anaerobic conditions. The potential denitrification rate, under the application condition of nitrate, ranged from 0.13 to 0.26 μg N cm−3 h−1 in the flooded region and from 0.77 to 1.5 μg N cm−3 h−1 in the exposed region. The potential rates in the flooded region had a tendency to be lower than those in the exposed region, implying that the number of denitrifying bacteria in the flooded region was low due to inactivation of aerobic respiration and denitrification in the denitrifying bacteria community. Kinetic parameters, maximum rate (V max) and half-saturation constant (K s) for denitrification were calculated on the experimental procedures of the wetting–drying cycles of sediments. Both parameters decreased by the wetting treatment and increased by the drying treatment. The fluctuation of V max values with wetting–drying cycles indicated that the number of denitrifying bacteria was influenced by aerobic respiration and denitrification in the denitrifying bacteria community similar to the potential rates, and denitrifying enzyme was induced by the nitrate supplied by nitrification accelerated through the drying process. On the other hand, the fluctuation of K s values implied that members of denitrifying bacteria were shifted to members of high nitrate affinity by wetting treatment and of low nitrate affinity by drying treatment.