Contemporaneous nitrogen fixation and denitrification in intertidal microbial mats: rapid response to runoff events

Abstract

Results from studies in Tomales Bay, California, illustrated the rapid metabolic adaptation of microbial mats to altered N fluxes. Changes occurring in the mat N cycling after the initiation of runoff led to two fundamental ecological changes: (1) mats became sinks for rather than sources of fixed N and (2) denitrification became limited by the availability of organic carbon rather than nitrate. -from Authors