Denitrification and nitrogen fixation dynamics in the area surrounding an individual ghost shrimp (neotrypaea californiensis) burrow system

Abstract

Bioturbated sediments are thought of as areas of increased denitrification or fixed-nitrogen (N) loss; however, recent studies have suggested that not allNmay be lost from these environments, with someNreturning to the system via microbial dinitrogen (N2) fixation. Weinvestigated denitrification and N2 fixation in an intertidal lagoon (Catalina Harbor, CA), an environment characterized by bioturbation by thalassinidean shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis). Field studies were combined with detailed measurements of denitrification and N2 fixation surrounding a single ghost shrimp burrow system in a narrow aquarium (15 cm by 20 cm by 5 cm). Simultaneous measurements of both activities were performed on samples taken within a 1.5-cm grid for a two-dimensional illustration of their intensity and distribution. These findings were then compared with rate measurements performed on bulk environmental sediment samples collected from the lagoon. Results for the aquarium indicated that both denitrification and N2 fixation have a patchy distribution surrounding the burrow, with no clear correlation to each other, sediment depth, or distance from the burrow. Field denitrification rates were, on average, lower in a bioturbated region than in a seemingly nonbioturbated region; however, replicates showed very high variability. A comparison of denitrification field results with previously reportedN2 fixation rates from the same lagoon showed that in the nonbioturbated region, depth-integrated (10 cm) denitrification rates were higher than integratedN2 fixation rates (~9 to 50 times). In contrast, in the bioturbated sediments, depending on the year and bioturbation intensity, some (~6.2%) to all of theNlost via denitrification might be accounted for via N2 fixation. © 2012, American Society for Microbiology.