Metabolic preference of nitrate over oxygen as an electron acceptor in foraminifera from the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone.

ABSTRACT: Benthic foraminifera populate a diverse range of marine habitats. Their ability to use alternative electron acceptors-nitrate (NO₃^-) or oxygen (O₂)-makes them important mediators of benthic nitrogen cycling. Nevertheless, the metabolic scaling of the two alternative respiration pathways and the environmental determinants of foraminiferal denitrification rates are yet unknown. We measured denitrification and O₂ respiration rates for 10 benthic foraminifer species sampled in the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Denitrification and O₂ respiration rates significantly scale sublinearly with the cell volume. The scaling is lower for O₂ respiration than for denitrification, indicating that NO₃^- metabolism d

SUBMITTER: Glock N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6386669 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature