Nutrients

Puget Sound Oceanography 2011

Deviation from Redfield Ratios:

The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen Fixation We can make ammonia in factories, using atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen (usually from natural gas or petroleum). Lightening makes about 5-8% of the total nitrogen fixed. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria (marine cyanobacteria, or living symbiotically with legumes). Denitrifying bacteria, particularly ones living in anaerobic conditions, use nitrate as a substitute for oxygen in their metabolism. Produce N2 gas as a by-product.

Units youll see in the literature: Unit Abbreviation Meaning 10-6 g-atoms per liter 10-3 g-atoms per m3 [=g-atom per liter] 10-6 moles per liter 10-6 moles per liter [=M] 10-3 moles per m3 10-6 grams per liter [=parts per billion] 10-3 grams per liter [=parts per million] 1000 kg

microgram-atoms per g-at l-1 liter milligram-atoms per cubic meter Micromolar micromoles per liter mg-at m-3 M [not M l-1] mol l-1 [not M l-1] mmol m-3 [not mM l-1] g l-1 mg l-1 tonne

millimoles per cubic meter micrograms per liter milligrams per liter metric tonne

Use the elements molecular weight to convert:

e.g., 1 g-at l-1 of nitrogen = 14 g N l-1

Salish Sea nitrogen inputs

Ocean: 30 M; 2600-2900 tonnes /day Sewage inputs:
Vancouver: 20-22 tonnes / day Seattle: 15-16 tonnes / day Total sewage: <100 tonnes / day

Rivers and Runoff:

Fraser River: 2-4M; 50 tonnes / day Skagit River: 2-4M; 7 tonnes / day Total Rivers+Runoff: <75 tonnes / day

Atmospheric inputs: <10 tonnes / day

From Mackas & Harrison 1997 1 tonne = 1000 kg

Fraser River: timing of flow

Feb. peak nitrate concentration

flow

summer minimum nitrate concentration

But, nutrient limitation is found in Puget Sound!

Nitrate+Nitrite from 1998-2000 PRISM samples

Newton et al, 2002 Washington State Marine Water Column Quality Report

Mackas and Harrison 1997

Short-term variability in surface concentrations:

Riverine sources of nutrients

1972 USGS survey

Where does the N go?

(Total inputs = 2600-3100 tonnes /day)

losses
Estuarine surface-layer advection of particulate and dissolved nitrogen: As phytoplankton: 2100-2400 tonnes /day As zooplankton: 55 tonnes / day As PN and DON: 265 tonnes / day
[net inputs=500-700 tonnes / day]

Primary Production uptake = ~1500 tonnes N / day So, ~30% of this is new production from the N inputs Harvest removal = 2 tonnes / day Sedimentation and burial = ~100 tonnes / day Denitrification = <1.5 tonnes / day Top predators = ~1 tonne / day

We have become the dominant source of nitrogen fixation on the Earth partly by making fertilizer and partly by growing legumes