Increase of nitrous oxide flux to the atmosphere upon nitrogen addition to red mangroves sediments

• Published in: Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 44; no. 10; pp. 992 - 996
• Main Authors: Muñoz-Hincapié, Milton, Morell, Julio M, Corredor, Jorge E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Dispersed sources and other; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Mangrove; Marine and continental quaternary; Nitrous oxide; Nitrous Oxide - analysis; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; Rhizophora mangle; Rosaceae - chemistry; Sediment flux; Surficial geology; Volatilization; Central America; Puerto Rico; America; West Indies; Mangrove; Nitrous oxide; Sediment flux; Ammonium; Marine sediments; Rhizophoraceae; Emission content; Nitrates; Rhizophora mangle; Pollutant emission; Interstitial water; Marine environment; Flux density; Dicotyledones; Greenhouse gas; mangrove swamps; Angiospermae; Air pollution; Spermatophyta; Nitrogen protoxide; Nitrogen Compounds
• ISSN: 0025-326X; 1879-3363
• DOI: 10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00132-7

Response of nitrous oxide N 2O sediment/air flux to nitrogen addition was assessed in mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle) sediments. Fluxes were enhanced with both ammonium and nitrate loading. Greatest fluxes (52 μmol m −2 h −1 ) were obtained with ammonium addition and saturation was achieved with additions of 0.9 mol m −2. Maximum flux following ammonium addition was 2785 times greater than control plots and 4.5 times greater during low tide than with equivalent ammonium addition at high tide. Nitrate enrichment resulted in exponential growth, with maximal mean flux of 36.7 μmol m −2 h −1 at 1.9 mol m −2; saturation was not achieved. Differential response to ammonium and nitrate, and to tide and elevation, indicate that microbial nitrification is responsible for most of the observed gas flux. Mangrove sediments constitute an important source of global atmospheric N 2O and increases in nitrogen loading will lead to significant increases in the flux of this atmospherically active gas.