Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/6468
Title: Denitrification in bottomland hardwood soils of the Cache River, Arkansas
Authors: Boar, Rosalind R.
DeLaune, R. D.
Lindau, C. W.
Patrick, W. H. (William H.), 1925-
Keywords: Bottomland hardwood
Nitrification
Denitrification
Nitrogen cycling
Water quality
Wetlands
Cache River (Ark.)
Floodplain forests
Wetland ecology
Publisher: U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station
Series/Report no.: Technical Report (Wetlands Research Program (U.S.)) ; no. Technical Report WRP-CP-1
Abstract: To give initial nitrate-N concentrations of about 9 mg L⁻¹, ¹⁵N labeled nitrate was added to sediment-water columns containing wetland sediment and river water. Over 40 days, nitrate-N in floodwater decreased by between 82 and 59 percent, which gave estimates of N export from the water column of 11.5 mg N m⁻² day⁻¹ and 7.5 mg N m⁻² day⁻¹. These values are low compared with wetland systems elsewhere and correlated directly with the organic content of surface sediment, which included the forest litter. Added glucose at least doubled rates of nitrate loss, which were then presumed to have been carbon limited. Nitrification was estimated using changes in atom percent ¹⁵N₃ alone and not changes in atom percent NH₄, which is a more usual method. Contributions of NO₃ to water from nitrification were small related to initial organic contents and were estimated at between 5 and 12 percent of the amounts by which nitrate reduced. Rates of nitrogen transformation in these forested swamps are likely to be set by rate of supply of soluble carbon from tree litter and perhaps canopy leachate, rather than by nitrate concentration in inflowing floodwater.
Description: Technical Report
Gov't Doc #: Technical Report WRP-CP-1
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/6468
Other Identifiers: en_US
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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