Nitrogen uptake, dissolved organic nitrogen release, and new production

Journal Article · Fri Sep 23 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.265.5180.1843· OSTI ID:6620052

Bronk, D A ^[1]; Glibert, P M ^[2]; Ward, B B ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
2. Univ. of Maryland, Cambridge, MD (United States)
3. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

In oceanic, coastal, and estuarine environments, an average of 25 to 41 percent of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (NH[sub 4][sup +] and NO[sub 3][sup [minus]]) taken up by phytoplankton is released as dissolved organic nitrogen (DON). Release rates for DON in oceanic systems range from 4 to 26 nanogram-atoms of nitrogen per liter per hour. Failure to account for the production of DON during nitrogen-15 uptake experiments results in an underestimate of gross nitrogen uptake rates and thus an underestimate of new and regenerated production. In these studies, traditional nitrogen-15 techniques were found to underestimate new and regenerated production by up to 74 and 50 percent, respectively. Total DON turnover times, estimated from DON release resulting from both NH[sub 4][sup +] and NO[sub 3][sup [minus]] uptake, were 10 [+-] 1, 18 [+-] 14, and 4 days for oceanic, coastal, and estuarine sites, respectively.

• OSTI ID: 6620052
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 265:5180; ISSN SCIEAS; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540310* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
NITROGEN
NITROGEN CYCLE
NONMETALS
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS