Microbial dissolved organic phosphorus utilization in the Hudson River Estuary

Conference · Tue Jan 09 04:00:00 EST 1990 · EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union; (United States)

OSTI ID:6620731

Ammerman, J W ^[1]; Angel, D L ^[2]

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1. Texas A M Univ., College Station (United States)
2. City College of New York, NY (United States)

The Hudson River Estuary has large inputs of phosphorus and other nutrients from sewage discharge. Concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) reach at least 4 uM during the summer low-flow period. Biological utilization of phosphorus and other nutrients is usually minimal because of the high turbidity and short residence time of the water. Therefore SRP is normally a conservative tracer of salinity, with maximum concentrations found off Manhattan and decreasing to the north. Despite this abundance of SRP, some components of the dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) appear to be rapidly cycled by microbes. The objective of this study was to measure this DIP cycling during both the high- and low-flow periods. We measured the concentrations of SRP and DOP, the SRP turnover rate, algal and bacterial biomass, and the substrate turnover rates of two microbial cell-surface phosphatases, alkaline phosphatase (AP) and 5[prime] - nucleotidase (5PN). SRP concentrations ranged from about 0.5-4 uM, DOP was usually less than 1 uM. SRP and AP turnover were slow (generally < 5%/h), but 5PN substrate turnover was high with a median rate of 100%/h. Furthermore, over 30% of the phosphate hydrolyzed by 5PN was immediately taken up. If the nucleotide-P concentration is conservatively assumed to be 5 nM, than the rate of phosphate utilization from DOP is nearly equal to that from SRP. That is paradoxical considering the large SRP concentration, but suggests that much of this SRP may be biologically unavailable due to complexation with iron or other processes.

• OSTI ID: 6620731
• Report Number(s): CONF-9002174--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union; (United States) Journal Volume: 71:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
ABUNDANCE
ALGAE
ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE
BACTERIA
BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY
BIOMASS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENZYMES
ESTERASES
ESTUARIES
FLUCTUATIONS
HUDSON RIVER
HYDROLASES
IRON
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
NONMETALS
NUTRIENTS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHATASES
PHOSPHORUS
PLANTS
PROTEINS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RIVERS
SALINITY
SEWAGE
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TURBIDITY
VARIATIONS
WASTES