Changes in benthic denitrification, nitrate ammonification, and anammox process rates and nitrate and nitrite reductase gene abundances along an estuarine nutrient gradient (the Colne estuary, United Kingdom).

ABSTRACT: Estuarine sediments are the location for significant bacterial removal of anthropogenically derived inorganic nitrogen, in particular nitrate, from the aquatic environment. In this study, rates of benthic denitrification (DN), dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and anammox (AN) at three sites along a nitrate concentration gradient in the Colne estuary, United Kingdom, were determined, and the numbers of functional genes (narG, napA, nirS, and nrfA) and corresponding transcripts encoding enzymes mediating nitrate reduction were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. In situ rates of DN and DNRA decreased toward the estuary mouth, with the findings from slurry experiments suggesting that the potential for DNRA increased while the DN potential decreased as nitr

SUBMITTER: Dong LF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681644 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature