Genetic and environmental controls on nitrous oxide accumulation in lakes.

ABSTRACT: We studied potential links between environmental factors, nitrous oxide (N2O) accumulation, and genetic indicators of nitrite and N2O reducing bacteria in 12 boreal lakes. Denitrifying bacteria were investigated by quantifying genes encoding nitrite and N2O reductases (nirS/nirK and nosZ, respectively, including the two phylogenetically distinct clades nosZI and nosZII) in lake sediments. Summertime N2O accumulation and hypolimnetic nitrate concentrations were positively correlated both at the inter-lake scale and within a depth transect of an individual lake (Lake Vanajavesi). The variability in the individual nirS, nirK, nosZI, and nosZII gene abundances was high (up to tenfold) among the lakes, which allowed us to study the expected links between the ecosystem's nir-vs-nos gene inventor

SUBMITTER: Saarenheimo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4355481 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature