Publication Date:
2022-10-27
Description:
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 126(5), (2021): e2020JG006217, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006217.
Description:
It is assumed that to treat excess NO3− high soil organic matter content (%OM) is required to maintain high denitrification rates in natural or restored wetlands. However, this excess also represents a risk by increasing soil decomposition rates triggering peat collapse and wetland fragmentation. Here, we evaluated the role of %OM and temperature interactions controlling denitrification rates in eroding (Barataria Bay-BLC) and emerging (Wax Lake Delta-WLD) deltaic regions in coastal Louisiana using the isotope pairing (IPT) and N2:Ar techniques. We also assessed differences between total (direct denitrification + coupled nitrification-denitrification) and net (total denitrification minus nitrogen fixation) denitrification rates in benthic and wetland habitats with contrasting %OM and bulk density (BD). Sediment (benthic) and soil (wetland) cores were collected during summer, spring, and winter (2015–2016) and incubated at close to in-situ temperatures (30°C, 20°C, and 10°C, respectively). Denitrification rates were linearly correlated with temperature; maximum mean rates ranged from 40.1–124.1 μmol m−2 h−1 in the summer with lower rates (〈26.2 ± 5.3 μmol m−2 h−1) in the winter seasons. Direct denitrification was higher than coupled denitrification in all seasons. Denitrification rates were higher in WLD despite lower %OM, lower total N concentration, and higher BD in wetland soils. Therefore, in environments with low carbon availability, high denitrification rates can be sustained as long as NO3− concentrations are high (〉30 μM) and water temperature is 〉10°C. In coastal Louisiana, substrates under these regimes are represented by emergent supra-tidal flats or land created by sediment diversions under oligohaline conditions (〈1 ppt).
Description:
This study was supported by the NOAA-Sea Grant Program-Louisiana (Grant 2013R/E-24) to Victor H. Rivera-Monroy and Kanchan Maiti. Victor H. Rivera-Monroy was also supported by the Department of the Interior South-Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (Cooperative Agreement #G12AC00002).
Keywords:
Coastal Louisiana
;
Deltaic system
;
Denitrification
;
Nitrate loading
;
Organic matter
;
Seasonal change
;
Sediment and freshwater diversions
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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