Measurement of in situ rates of nitrification in sediment

Abstract

A method has been developed for the measurement of nitrification rates in intact sediment cores without disturbing the concentration gradients of oxygen and ammonium. N-serve (2-chloro-6-trichloromethyl-pyridine), a specific inhibitor of the autotrophic ammonium oxidation, was injected into a 0–2 cm surface layer of the sediment (20 ppm) and added to the water column of sediment cores (5 ppm). N-serve in these concentrations was sufficient to inhibit nitrification, but did not change the rate of ammonium production or incorporation in sediment suspensions, which were incubated aerobically and anaerobically. The ammonium accumulation in cores injected with N-serve was thus equal to the amount of ammonium which was oxidized to nitrate in the control cores. Nitrification rates were in the range of 0–3 mmol N m^{−2 −1}