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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3264-3269, Vol. 64, No. 9
Department of Microbial Ecology, University
of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Received 26 February 1998/Accepted 17 June 1998
High-resolution NO3
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Biosensor Determination of the Microscale Distribution of
Nitrate, Nitrate Assimilation, Nitrification, and Denitrification in
a Diatom-Inhabited Freshwater Sediment
profiles in
freshwater sediment covered with benthic diatoms were obtained with a
new microscale NO3
biosensor characterized by
absence of interference from chemical species other than
NO2
and N2O. Analysis of the
microprofiles obtained indicated no nitrification during darkness, high
rates of nitrification and a tight coupling between nitrification and
denitrification during illumination, and substantial rates of
NO3
assimilation during illumination.
Nitrification during darkness could be induced by purging the bulk
water with O2 gas, indicating that the stimulatory effect
on nitrification by illumination was caused by algal production of
O2. NH4+ addition did not stimulate
nitrification during darkness when O2 was restricted to the
upper 1-mm layer, and there was thus a low nitrification potential in
the permanently oxic top 1 mm of the sediment.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbial Ecology, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, Building 540, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. Phone: 45 89 42 32 44. Fax: 45 86 12 71 91. E-mail: revsbech{at}biology.aau.dk.
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