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Nitrogen accretion, and the nature and possible significance of N2 fixation (Acetylene reduction) in a Nova Scotian Spartina alterniflora stand

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Abstract

Total aboveground nitrogen accretion through the 1975 growing season at a “short” Spartina alterniflora stand was estimated as 78 kg N ha-1, compared to estimated N2 fixation on the mud surface of 22 kg N ha-1 and subsurface N2 fixation of 93 kg N ha-1. Subsurface N accretion was estimated to be of the order of 77 kg N ha-1. Mudsurface ARA (acetylene-reducing activity) exhibited a pronounced mid-season maximum, while subsurface ARA exhibited a general trend of increase from May to September, and then a decline as a function of falling temperature. Various experiments suggested that mud-surface ARA was associated largely with non-heterocystous blue-green algae and photosynthetic bacteria, while subsurface ARA was associated mainly with vital activity of S. alterniflora. Counts of various groups of bacteria indicated an enrichment of anaerobic (glucose-utilizing) and microaerophilic (malateutilizing) N2-fixing bacteria in the rhizosphere in comparison to non-rhizosphere soil. Treatment of roots with chloramine-t for 2 h reduced total numbers (plate count), anaerobic N2 fixers, and microaerophilic N2 fixers by factors of 357, 172, and 22, respectively, suggesting a relative enrichment of microaerophiles in the interior or “endorhizosphere” of the roots. ARA of excised roots was correlated with 14C-activity for roots from a plant previously exposed to 14CO2, and with branching and age of the roots.

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  1. Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    D. G. Patriquin & C. R. McClung

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  1. D. G. Patriquin
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Communicated by T. Platt, Dartmouth

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Patriquin, D.G., McClung, C.R. Nitrogen accretion, and the nature and possible significance of N2 fixation (Acetylene reduction) in a Nova Scotian Spartina alterniflora stand. Mar. Biol. 47, 227–242 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00541001

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