Simultaneous Measurement of Denitrification and Nitrogen Fixation Using Isotope Pairing with Membrane Inlet Mass Spectrometry Analysis†

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American Society for Microbiology

RESUMO

A method for estimating denitrification and nitrogen fixation simultaneously in coastal sediments was developed. An isotope-pairing technique was applied to dissolved gas measurements with a membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS). The relative fluxes of three N2 gas species (28N2, 29N2, and 30N2) were monitored during incubation experiments after the addition of 15NO3−. Formulas were developed to estimate the production (denitrification) and consumption (N2 fixation) of N2 gas from the fluxes of the different isotopic forms of N2. Proportions of the three isotopic forms produced from 15NO3− and 14NO3− agreed with expectations in a sediment slurry incubation experiment designed to optimize conditions for denitrification. Nitrogen fixation rates from an algal mat measured with intact sediment cores ranged from 32 to 390 μg-atoms of N m−2 h−1. They were enhanced by light and organic matter enrichment. In this environment of high nitrogen fixation, low N2 production rates due to denitrification could be separated from high N2 consumption rates due to nitrogen fixation. Denitrification and nitrogen fixation rates were estimated in April 2000 on sediments from a Texas sea grass bed (Laguna Madre). Denitrification rates (average, 20 μg-atoms of N m−2 h−1) were lower than nitrogen fixation rates (average, 60 μg-atoms of N m−2 h−1). The developed method benefits from simple and accurate dissolved-gas measurement by the MIMS system. By adding the N2 isotope capability, it was possible to do isotope-pairing experiments with the MIMS system.

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