Assessing N2 fixation in estuarine mangrove soils
Journal
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Journal Volume
189
Pages
84
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
Abstract
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Nitrogen (N) limited mangrove forest may have a high potential for microbial N 2 fixation. Previous research has focused on soil nitrogenase activity in pristine mangrove forests with little anthropogenic impact. This research was designed to evaluate the magnitude of nitrogenase activity of mangrove soils in a high anthropogenic N-loading environment and the way in which soil N 2 fixation in mangrove forest may be related to organic carbon and salinity. The test involved an acetylene reduction method under controlled laboratory conditions. The mangrove forests with high anthropogenic N loading may have high nitrogenase activity in the soils. The diazotrophs in these mangrove soils were mostly heterotrophs and the sulfate-reducing bacteria were the major N 2 -fixing bacteria. The nitrogenase activity was little affected by the soil salinity, which suggests that these groups of N 2 fixation bacteria adapted well to saline conditions in the estuary.
Subjects
N-2-fixation; Nitrogenase activity; Acetylene reduction; Mangrove; Sulfate-reducing bacteria
Publisher
Elsevier {BV}