Skip to main content
Log in

δ15N dynamics of ammonium and particulate nitrogen in a temperate eutrophic estuary

Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We monitored the stable nitrogen isotopic composition (δ15N) of suspended matter and ammonium in the freshwater stretch of the Scheldt estuary (Belgium) over a full year to investigate for seasonal evolution and possible co-variation between isotopic signatures. The δ15N value of ammonium remained rather constant during winter (average = +11.4‰) but increased significantly with the spring and summer bloom, reaching values as high as +70‰. This enrichment of the ammonium pool in 15N coincided with significant ammonium depletion during summer period, suggesting a close causal relationship. Based on a semi-closed system approach we deduced an apparent fractionation factor associated with NH +4 utilization (i.e. combining effects of uptake and nitrification) of 18.4‰ (SE = 2.0‰), which is similar to values reported in literature. Observed variations of ammonium δ15N could account for about 69% of δ15N variation in suspended matter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

References

  • Andersson MGI, Brion N, Middelburg JJ (2006) Comparison of nitrifier activity versus growth in a turbid, tidal estuary (Scheldt estuary in northern Europe). Aquat Microb Ecol 42:149–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Brion N, Billen G (1998) A reassessment of the H 14CO 3 incorporation method for measuring autotrophic nitrification and its use to estimate nitrifying biomasses. Rev Sci Eau 11:283–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Caraco NF, Lampman G, Cole JJ et al (1998) Microbial assimilation of DIN in a nitrogen rich estuary: implications for food quality and isotope studies. Mar Ecol-Prog Ser 167:59–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Casciotti KL, Sigman DM, Ward BB (2003) Linking diversity and stable isotope fractionation in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Geomicrobiol J 20:335–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cifuentes LA, Sharp JH, Fogel ML (1988) Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry in the Delaware estuary. Limnol Oceanogr 33:1102–1115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cifuentes LA, Fogel ML, Pennock JR et al (1989) Biogeochemical factors that influence the stable nitrogen isotope ratio of dissolved ammonium in the Delaware Estuary. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:2713–2721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Wilde HPJ, de Bie MJM (2000) Nitrous oxide in the Schelde estuary: production by nitrification and emission to the atmosphere. Mar Chem 69:203–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaconu C, Brion N, Elskens M et al (2005) Validation of a dynamic ammonium extraction technique for the determination of 15N at enriched abundances. Anal Chim Acta 554:113–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisseha R (2000) Use of stable isotopes as a tracer of domestic sewage pollution in the Woluwe Brook-Woluwe sewer collector system. Master Thesis in Environmental Science and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, 80pp

  • Frankignoulle M, Bourge I, Wollast R (1996) Atmospheric CO2 fluxes in a highly polluted estuary (the Scheldt). Limnol Oceanogr 41:365–369

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankignoulle M, Abril G, Borges A et al (1998) Carbon dioxide emission from European estuaries. Science 282:434–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fry B (2003) Steady state models of stable isotopic distributions. Isot Environ Health Stud 39:219–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goosen NK, van Rijswijk P, Kromkamp J et al (1997) Regulation of annual variation in heterotrophic bacterial production in the Schelde estuary (SW Netherlands). Aquat Microb Ecol 12:223–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Gribsholt B, Boschker HTS, Struyf E et al (2005) Nitrogen processing in a tidal freshwater marsh: a whole-ecosystem 15N labeling study. Limnol Oceanogr 50:1945–1959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellings L, Dehairs F, Van Damme S et al (2001) Dissolved inorganic carbon in a highly polluted estuary (the Scheldt). Limnol Oceanogr 46:1406–1414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes RM, McClelland JW, Sigman DM et al (1998) Measuring 15N–NH +4 in marine, estuarine and fresh waters: an adaptation of the ammonium diffusion method for samples with low ammonium concentrations. Mar Chem 60:235–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horrigan SG, Montoya JP, Nevins JL et al (1990) Natural isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 30:393–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann MF, Bernasconi SM, McKenzie JA et al (2004) Seasonal variation of the δ13C and δ15N of particulate and dissolved carbon and nitrogen in Lake Lugano: constraints on biogeochemical cycling in a eutrophic lake. Limnol Oceanogr 49:415–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macko SA, Fogel Estep ML, Engel MH et al (1986) Kinetic fractionation of stable nitrogen isotopes during amino acid transamination. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 50:2143–2146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mariotti A, Germon JC, Hubert P et al (1981) Experimental determination of nitrogen kinetic isotope fractionation: some principles; illustration for the denitrification and nitrification processes. Plant Soil 62:413–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mariotti A, Lancelot C, Billen G (1984) Natural isotopic composition of nitrogen as a tracer of origin for suspended matter in the Scheldt estuary. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:549–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middelburg JJ, Nieuwenhuize J (1998) Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in suspended matter and sediments from the Scheldt estuary. Mar Chem 60:217–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middelburg JJ, Nieuwenhuize J (2000) Uptake of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in turbid, tidal estuaries. Mar Ecol-Prog Ser 192:79–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Middelburg JJ, Nieuwenhuize J (2001) Nitrogen isotope tracing of dissolved inorganic nitrogen behaviour in tidal estuaries. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 53:385–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montoya JP, Horrigan SG, McCarthy JJ (1990) Natural abundance of 15N in particulate nitrogen and zooplankton in the Chesapeake Bay. Mar Ecol-Prog Ser 65:35–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Montoya JP, Horrigan SG, McCarthy JJ (1991) Rapid, storm-induced changes in the natural abundance of 15N in a planktonic ecosystem, Chesapeake Bay, USA. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 55:3627–3638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muylaert K, Sabbe K, Vyverman W (2000) Spatial and temporal dynamics of phytoplankton communities in a freshwater tidal estuary (Schelde, Belgium). Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 50:673–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom NE, Macko SA, Deibel D (1997) Seasonal variation in the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry of a coastal cold ocean environment. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 61:2929–2942

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennock JR, Velinsky DJ, Ludlam JM et al (1996) Isotopic fractionation of ammonium and nitrate during uptake by Skeletonema costatum: Implications for δ15N dynamics under bloom conditions. Limnol Oceanogr 41:451–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Regnier P, Wollast R, Steefel CI (1997) Long-term fluxes of reactive species in macrotidal estuaries: estimates from a fully transient, multicomponent reaction-transport model. Mar Chem 58:127–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sigman DM, Altabet MA, McCorkle DC et al (1999) The δ15N of nitrate in the Southern Ocean: consumption of nitrate in surface waters. Glob Biogeochem Cycle 13:1149–1166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soetaert K, Herman PMJ (1995a) Estimating estuarine residence times in the Westerschelde (The Netherlands) using a box model with fixed dispersion coefficients. Hydrobiologia 311:215–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soetaert K, Herman PMJ (1995b) Nitrogen dynamics in the Westerschelde estuary (SW Netherlands) estimated by means of the ecosystem model MOSES. Hydrobiologia 311:225–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soetaert K, Middelburg JJ, Heip C et al (2006) Long-term change in the dissolved inorganic nutrients in the heterotrophic Scheldt estuary (Belgium, The Netherlands). Limnol Oceanogr 51:409–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Struyf E, Van Damme S, Meire P (2004) Possible effects of climate change on estuarine nutrient fluxes: a case study in the highly nutrified Schelde estuary (Belgium, The Netherlands). Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 60:649–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taverniers E (1999) Zeescheldebekken: de afvoer van de Schelde in 1999. Report AMS-01/02. Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Leefmilieu en Infrastructuur, Afdeling Maritieme Schelde, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Taverniers E (2000) Zeescheldebekken: de afvoer van de Schelde in 2000. Report AMS-01/02. Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Leefmilieu en Infrastructuur, Afdeling Maritieme Schelde, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Taverniers E (2001) Zeescheldebekken: de afvoer van de Schelde in 2001. Report AMS-01/02. Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Leefmilieu en Infrastructuur, Afdeling Maritieme Schelde, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Taverniers E (2002) Zeescheldebekken: de afvoer van de Schelde in 2002. Report AMS-01/02. Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Departement Leefmilieu en Infrastructuur, Afdeling Maritieme Schelde, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Velinsky DJ, Fogel ML, Todd JF et al (1991) Isotopic fractionation of dissolved ammonium at the oxygen–hydrogen sulfide interface in anoxic waters. Geophys Res Lett 18:649–652

    Google Scholar 

  • Velinsky DJ, Fogel ML (1999) Cycling of dissolved and particulate nitrogen and carbon in the Framvaren Fjord, Norway: stable isotopic variations. Mar Chem 67:161–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verlinden N (2002) Stikstofdynamiek en nitrificatie in het estuarium van de Schelde. Master Thesis in Chemistry. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, 85pp

  • Wada E (1980) Nitrogen isotope fractionation and its significance in biogeochemical processes occurring in marine environments. In: Goldberg ED, Horibe Y, Saruhashi K (eds) Uchida Rokakuho Publishing Co Ltd., Tokyo, pp 375–398

  • Wollast R (1982) Behaviour of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the Scheldt estuary. Thalassia Jugoslavica 18:11–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu JP, Calvert SE, Wong CS (1997) Nitrogen isotope variations in the subarctic northeast Pacific: relationships to nitrate utilization and trophic structure. Deep-Sea Res. Part I-Oceanogr Res Pap 44:287–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted in the framework of research projects G.0104.99; G.0438.02 and G.0629.05 supported by the Research Foundation Flanders. Fieldwork was performed in the framework of the OMES project funded by the Flanders Regional Government. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their very constructive comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loreto De Brabandere.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De Brabandere, L., Brion, N., Elskens, M. et al. δ15N dynamics of ammonium and particulate nitrogen in a temperate eutrophic estuary. Biogeochemistry 82, 1–14 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9047-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9047-1

Keywords

Navigation