Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen Composition, Transformation, Retention, and Transport in Naturally Phosphate-Rich and Phosphate-Poor Tropical Streams

The composition, transformation, and transport of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was compared in waters associated with two lowland streams in Costa Rica. The Salto River is enriched by geothermal-based soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), which raises the concentration up to 200 μg/L whereas Pantano Creek, an unimpacted tributary, has an SRP concentration <10 μg/L. Ammonium concentration in springs adjacent to the Salto and Pantano was typically greater than channel water (13 of 22 locations) whereas nitrate concentration was less (20 of 22 locations). Ground waters were typically high in ammonium relative to nitrate whereas channel waters were high in nitrate relative to ammonium. Sediment slurry studies indicated nitrification potential in two sediment types, firm clay (3.34 μg N∙cm−3∙d−1) and uncompacted organic-rich sediment (1.76 μg N∙cm−3∙d−1). Ammonium and nitrate amendments to each stream separately resulted in nitrate concentrations in excess of that expected after correction for dilution using a conservative tracer. SRP concentration was not affected by DIN amendment to either stream. SRP concentration in the Pantano appeared to be regulated by abiotic sediment exchange reactions whereas DIN composition and concentration were regulated by a combination of biotic and abiotic processes.

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Cumulative effects of pulp mill and municipal effluents on epilithic biomass and nutrient limitation in a large northern river ecosystem

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f00-057 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 57 (7) ◽

pp. 1342-1354 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Garry J Scrimgeour ◽

Patricia A Chambers

Keyword(s):

Point Source ◽

Nutrient Limitation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Function Analysis ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Pulp Mill ◽

Nutrient Status ◽

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Reactive Phosphorus

Large-scale patterns in epilithic biomass and nutrient status were evaluated at 33 sites located upstream and downstream of point-source anthropogenic effluents in the Athabasca and Wapiti-Smoky rivers in Alberta, Canada. Multiple regression showed that epilithic chlorophyll a was significantly (p < 0.0001) related to concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and marginally (p = 0.06) significantly related to soluble reactive phosphorus. Epilithic biomass was up to 50 times higher immediately downstream of point-source inputs compared with sites upstream and those 20-150 km downstream. Data from nutrient diffusing substrata showed that the epilithon at 18 of the 33 sites was nutrient limited, while 14 sites showed no nutrient limitation; interpretation of the remaining site was inconclusive. Of the 18 nutrient-limited sites, six were nitrogen limited, five were phosphorus limited, and seven were co-limited. Multiple discriminant function analysis showed that the combined concentration of soluble reactive phosphorus and dissolved inorganic nitrogen was a significant discriminator between deplete and replete sites.

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Phytoplankton responses to an extreme drought season: A case study at two reservoirs from a semiarid region, Northeastern Brazil

Journal of Limnology ◽

10.4081/jlimnol.2019.1869 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 78 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carlos Y. B. Oliveira ◽

Cicero D. L. Oliveira ◽

Ayanne J. G. Almeida ◽

Alfredo O. Gálvez ◽

Danielli M. Dantas

Keyword(s):

Electrical Conductivity ◽

Phytoplankton Biomass ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Extreme Drought ◽

Northeastern Brazil ◽

Semiarid Region ◽

Drought Period ◽

Reactive Phosphorus

The temporal phytoplankton biomass variation at two Neotropical reservoirs during an extreme drought season were analyzed. Here we sought to evaluate the main abiotic factors involved in dynamics of phytoplankton during this drought period. The main difference between the reservoirs was the intensive fish and shrimp farming in one of the reservoirs. For quantitative analysis, sampling with bottles were carried out at an average depth of 0.5m. Water temperature, pH and electrical conductivity parameters were measured in situ and water samples were collected for dissolved inorganic nitrogen and soluble reactive phosphorus analyses. Aquaculture was probably one among the causes for the reservoirs were so different in the physical and chemical variables, as shown by the principal components analysis. The results showed specific groups dominance in both reservoirs. In the Cachoeira II reservoir, an invasive dinoflagellate, Ceratium furcoides, was present in all analyzed months, while, in the Saco I reservoir, cyanobacteria group represented more than 50% of phytoplankton biomass, mainly Microcystis aeruginosa and Dolichospermum sp. In two reservoirs precipitation, soluble reactive phosphorus and electrical conductivity were positively related with phytoplankton. Phytoplankton biomass was considerably larger in the Cachoeira II reservoir, due to the greater size and biovolume of the dominant dinoflagellate. These findings suggest that species dominance in extreme drought events may be favored.

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Nutrient criteria to achieve New Zealand’s riverine macroinvertebrate targets

10.26686/wgtn.14751300 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adam D Canning ◽

Michael Joy ◽

Russell G Death

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Intensive Agriculture ◽

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Nutrient Criteria ◽

Global Trend ◽

Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Nitrogen Concentrations ◽

Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Environmental Goals

Waterways worldwide are experiencing nutrient enrichment from population growth and intensive agriculture, and New Zealand is part of this global trend. Increasing fertilizer in New Zealand and intensive agriculture have driven substantial water quality declines over recent decades. A recent national directive has set environmental managers a range of riverine ecological targets, including three macroinvertebrate indicators, and requires nutrient criteria be set to support their achievement. To support these national aspirations, we use the minimization-of-mismatch analysis to derive potential nutrient criteria. Given that nutrient and macroinvertebrate monitoring often does not occur at the same sites, we compared nutrient criteria derived at sites where macroinvertebrates and nutrients are monitored concurrently with nutrient criteria derived at all macroinvertebrate monitoring sites and using modelled nutrients. To support all three macroinvertebrate targets, we suggest that suitable nutrient criteria would set median dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations at ~0.6 mg/L and median dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations at ~0.02 mg/L. We recognize that deriving site-specific nutrient criteria requires the balancing of multiple values and consideration of multiple targets, and anticipate that criteria derived here will help and support these environmental goals.

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Cascading Effects of Decreased Salinity on the Plankton Chemistry, and Physics of the Great Salt Lake (Utah)

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f90-010 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

pp. 100-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh ◽

Therese Smith Berry

Keyword(s):

Salt Lake ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Great Salt Lake ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Grazing Pressure ◽

Algal Community ◽

Purple Sulfur Bacteria ◽

Cascading Effects ◽

Biological Variables ◽

Reactive Phosphorus

Physical, chemical and biological variables were measured in the Great Salt Lake during 1985–87, when salinity in the mixolimnion was near 50 g/L, much lower than the 250 g/L maxima recorded in 1963. Decreased salinity has been accompanied by a change in macrozooplankton from one species (Artemia franciscana), to an assemblage with one rotifer, two copepods, Artemia, and the corixid Trichocorixa verticalis. Predation by the corixid may now limit Artemia to low densities (<100∙m−3). The low biomass of Artemia and other zooplankton has reduced grazing pressure on the algal community so that high chlorophyll levels (5-44 mg∙m−3) and low Secchi depths (0.8–2.7 m) are now present throughout the year. The algae presently reduce soluble reactive phosphorus and inorganic nitrogen in the mixolimnion to below 5 and 50 μg∙L−1, respectively. Shading in the 7-m thick mixolimnion by algae, and by purple-sulfur bacteria in the chemocline, decreases light penetration so that the monimolimnion now maintains a nearly constant temperature (9–11 °C) throughout the year. The data support the hypothesis that the effects of corixid predation have cascaded through the Great Salt Lake, affecting herbivores, nutrients and thermal stratification.

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Intra- and Inter-Annual Variability in the Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen in an Urbanized River before and after Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrades: Case Study in the Grand River (Southwestern Ontario)

Nitrogen ◽

10.3390/nitrogen2020010 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 139-154

Author(s):

Eduardo Cejudo ◽

Madeline S. Rosamond ◽

Richard J. Elgood ◽

Sherry L. Schiff

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽

River Discharge ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Ammonium Concentration ◽

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Annual Variability ◽

Assimilation Capacity

External nitrogen (N) inputs originating from human activities act as essential nutrients accumulation in aquatic ecosystems or it is exported elsewhere, where the assimilation capacity is surpassed. This research presents a multi-annual case study of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in an urban river in Ontario (Canada), assessed changes in N downstream of the largest wastewater treatment plant (WTP) in the watershed. Changes in the DIN effluent discharge, in-river concentrations and loads were observed comparing the intra- and inter-annual variability (2010–2013) before, during and after WTP upgrades. These upgrades reduced the ammonium concentration in the river from 0.44 to 0.11 mg N-NH4+/L (year average), but the N load in the effluent increased. In the river, nitrate and ammonium concentrations responded to seasonal variability, being higher during the low temperature (>10 °C) and high flow seasons (spring and spring melt). Among years, changes in the DIN concentration are likely controlled by the effluent to river dilution ratio, which variability resides on the differences in river discharge between years. This suggest that the increasing trend in the DIN concentration and loads are the result of agricultural and urban additions, together with reduced N assimilation, in addition to N loads responding to variable river discharge. Finally, we propose monitoring both concentrations and loads, as they provide answers to different questions for regulatory agencies and water managers, allowing tailored strategies for different purposes, objectives and users.

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Nutrient criteria to achieve New Zealand’s riverine macroinvertebrate targets

10.26686/wgtn.14751300.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adam D Canning ◽

Michael Joy ◽

Russell G Death

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Intensive Agriculture ◽

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Nutrient Criteria ◽

Global Trend ◽

Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Nitrogen Concentrations ◽

Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Environmental Goals

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Nutrient concentrations and fluxes for podzolic and gley soils at Plynlimon, mid-Wales: implications for modelling inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus in upland UK environments

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-6-403-2002 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 403-420

Author(s):

C. Neal

Keyword(s):

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Sitka Spruce ◽

Nutrient Concentrations ◽

Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽

Podzolic Soils ◽

Forestry Management ◽

Order Of Magnitude ◽

Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Stream Nitrate

Abstract. The effect of felling on stream nitrate, ammonium and soluble reactive phosphate (SRP) concentrations is examined for acidic and acid sensitive Sitka Spruce afforested catchments with podzolic and gley soils in mid-Wales. For the streams draining the felled podzolic areas, the concentrations of nitrate can be up to an order of magnitude higher than pre-fell values and post-fell concentrations can even be lower than the pre-fell values. Felling for the podzolic soils barely leads to any changes in ammonium or SRP concentration. For the gley soils, felling results in an order of magnitude increase in nitrate, ammonium and SRP for a small drainage ditch, but the pulse is much reduced before it reaches the main Nant Tanllwyth channel. Rather, within-catchment and within-stream processes not only imbibe nitrate, ammonium and SRP fluxes generated, but in the case of nitrate, concentrations with- and post-felling are lower than pre-felling concentrations. The flux changes involved are described in terms of (a) input-output relationships and (b) "felling disruption" and "felling recovery responses". The findings are linked to issues of hydrobiological controls and forestry management. Keywords: Plynlimon, Hafren, Hore, streams, nitrate, ammonium, SRP, phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, phosphate, orthophosphate, Sitka spruce, forestry, felling, podzol, gley

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Dissolved inorganic nitrogen in a tropical estuary at Malaysia: transport and transformation

10.5194/bg-2019-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Shan Jiang ◽

Moritz Müller ◽

Jie Jin ◽

Ying Wu ◽

Kun Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Productivity ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

River Estuary ◽

Dry Season ◽

Ammonium Concentration ◽

Tropical Estuary ◽

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Wet Season ◽

Terrestrial Organic Matter ◽

Transport And Transformation

Abstract. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), including nitrate, nitrite and ammonium, frequently acts as the limitation for primary productivity. Our study focused on the transport and transformation of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in a tropical estuary, i.e. Rajang river estuary, in Borneo, Malaysia. Three cruises were conducted in August 2016, February–March and September 2017, covering both dry and wet seasons. Before entering the coastal delta, decomposition of the terrestrial organic matter and the subsequent soil leaching was assumed to be the main source of DIN in the river water. In the estuary, decomposition of dissolved organic nitrogen was an additional DIN source, which markedly increased DIN concentrations in August 2016 (dry season). In the wet season (February 2017), ammonium concentration showed a relatively conservative distribution during the mixing and nitrate addition was weak. In September 2017 (dry season), La Niña induced high precipitation and discharge rates, decreased reaction intensities of ammonification and nitrification and hence the distribution of DIN species in the estuary water was similar with the trend found in the wet season. The magnitude of riverine DIN flux varied between 77.2 and 101.5 ton N d-1, which might be an important support for the coastal primary productivity.

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Microbial Decomposer Communities Are Mainly Structured by Trophic Status in Circumneutral and Alkaline Streams

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.00971-09 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 75 (19) ◽

pp. 6211-6221 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Sofia Duarte ◽

Cláudia Pascoal ◽

Frédéric Garabétian ◽

Fernanda Cássio ◽

Jean-Yves Charcosset

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Fungal Biomass ◽

Trophic Status ◽

Stream Water ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Bacterial Biomass ◽

Nutrient Concentrations ◽

Ammonium Concentration ◽

Microbial Decomposer

ABSTRACT In streams, the release of nitrogen and phosphorus is reported to affect microbial communities and the ecological processes they govern. Moreover, the type of inorganic nitrogen (NO3, NO2, or NH4) may differently impact microbial communities. We aimed to identify the environmental factors that structure aquatic microbial communities and drive leaf litter decomposition along a gradient of eutrophication. We selected five circumneutral (Portuguese) and five alkaline (French) streams differing in nutrient concentrations to monitor mass loss of alder leaves, bacterial and fungal diversity by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, fungal biomass and reproduction, and bacterial biomass during 11 weeks of leaf immersion. The concentrations of inorganic nutrients in the stream water ranged from 5 to 300 μg liter−1 soluble reactive phosphorus, 0.30 to 5.50 mg liter−1 NO3-N, 2 to 103 μg liter−1 NO2-N, and <4 to 7,100 μg liter−1 NH4-N. Species richness was maximum in moderately anthropized (eutrophic) streams but decreased in the most anthropized (hypertrophic) streams. Different species assemblages were found in subsets of streams with different trophic statuses. In both geographic areas, the limiting nutrient, either nitrate or phosphate, stimulated the microbial activity in streams of intermediate trophic status. In the hypertrophic streams, fungal biomass and reproduction were significantly lower, and bacterial biomass dramatically decreased at the site with the highest ammonium concentration. The limiting nutrients that defined the trophic status were the main factor structuring fungal and bacterial communities, whatever the geographic area. A very high ammonium concentration in stream water most probably has negative impacts on microbial decomposer communities.

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Effects of Lanthanum Modified Bentonite and Polyaluminium Chloride on the Environmental Variables in the Water and Sediment Phosphorus Form in Lake Yanglan, China

Water ◽

10.3390/w13141947 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 1947

Author(s):

Ling Su ◽

Chen Zhong ◽

Lei Gan ◽

Xiaolin He ◽

Jinlei Yu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Suspended Solids ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Particulate Phosphorus ◽

Modified Bentonite ◽

Combined Application ◽

Water And Sediment ◽

Phosphorus Form ◽

Labile P ◽

Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Polyaluminium Chloride

The application of lanthanum modified bentonite (Phoslock®) and polyaluminium chloride (PAC) is popular in the restoration of European temperate lakes; however, the effects of the application on the concentrations of phosphorus (P) in both the water and the sediments have been poorly evaluated to date. We studied the effects of the application of Phoslock® + PAC on the concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), particulate phosphorus (PP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total suspended solids (TSS) and chlorophyll a (Chla) in the water, and different P forms in the sediments, in an isolated part of Lake Yanglan. The results showed that the concentrations of TP, PP, SRP, TSS and Chla decreased significantly after the addition of Phoslock® + PAC. Moreover, the concentrations of labile-P, reductant-soluble-P and organic-P in the sediments were also significantly decreased after the Phoslock® + PAC application. However, the concentrations of both the stable apatite-P and residual-P in the sediments after application of Phoslock® + PAC were much higher than the pre-addition values, while the concentrations of metal-oxide-P did not differ significantly between the pre- and post- application conditions. Our findings imply that the combined application of Phoslock® and PAC can be used in the restoration of subtropical shallow lakes, to reduce the concentrations of P in the water and suppress the release of P from the sediments.

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