Understanding the impacts of coastal deoxygenation in nitrogen dynamics: an observational analysis.

Biological production and outgassing of greenhouse gasses (GHG) in Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS) are vital for fishing productivity and climate regulation. This study examines temporal variability of biogeochemical and oceanographic variables, focusing on dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate, nitrogen deficit (N deficit), nitrous oxide (N2O) and air-sea N2O flux. This analysis is based on monthly observations from 2000 to 2023 in a region of intense seasonal coastal upwelling off central Chile (36°S). Strong correlations are estimated among N2O concentrations and N deficit in the 30-80 m layer, and N2O air-sea fluxes with the proportion of hypoxic water (4 < DO < 89 µmol L-1) in the water column, suggesting that N2O accumulation and its exchange are mainly associated with partial denitrification. Furthermore, we observe interannual variability in concentrations and inventories in the water column of DO, nitrate, N deficit, as well as air-sea N2O fluxes in both downwelling and upwelling seasons. These variabilities are not associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices but are related to interannual differences in upwelling intensity. The time series reveals significant nitrate removal and N2O accumulation in both mid and bottom layers, occurring at rates of 1.5 µmol L-1 and 2.9 nmol L-1 per decade, respectively. Particularly significant is the increase over the past two decades of air-sea N2O fluxes at a rate of 2.9 µmol m-2 d-1 per decade. These observations suggest that changes in the EBUS, such as intensification of upwelling and the prevalence of hypoxic waters may have implications for N2O emissions and fixed nitrogen loss, potentially influencing coastal productivity and climate.

Nitrogen loss in coastal sediments driven by anaerobic ammonium oxidation coupled to microbial reduction of Mn(IV)-oxide.

Coastal sediments play a central role in regulating the amount of land-derived reactive nitrogen (Nr) entering the ocean, and their importance becomes crucial in vulnerable ecosystems threatened by anthropogenic activities. Sedimentary denitrification has been identified as the main sink of Nr in marine environments, while anaerobic ammonium oxidation with nitrite (anammox) has also been pointed out as a key player in controlling the nitrogen pool in these locations. Collected evidence in the present work indicates that the microbial biota in coastal sediments from Baja California (northwestern Mexico) has the potential to drive anaerobic ammonium oxidation linked to Mn(IV) reduction (manganammox). Unamended sediment showed ammonification, but addition of vernadite (δMnO2 with nano-crystal size ∼15 Å) as terminal electron acceptor fueled simultaneous ammonium oxidation (up to ∼400 µM of ammonium removed) and production of Mn(II) with a ratio ∆[Mn(II)]/∆[NH4+] of 1.8, which is very close to the stoichiometric value of manganammox (1.5). Additional incubations spiked with external ammonium also showed concomitant ammonium oxidation and Mn(II) production, accounting for ∼30 % of the oxidized ammonium. Tracer analysis revealed that the nitrogen loss associated with manganammox was 4.2 ± 0.4 µg 30N2/g-day, which is 17-fold higher than that related to the feammox process (anaerobic ammonium oxidation linked to Fe(III) reduction, 0.24 ± 0.02 µg 30N2/g-day). Taxonomic characterization based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed the existence of several clades belonging to Desulfobacterota as potential microorganisms catalyzing the manganammox process. These findings suggest that manganammox has the potential to be an additional Nr sink in coastal environments, whose contribution to total Nr losses remains to be evaluated.

Process and mechanism of nitrogen loss in the ocean oxygen minimum zone.

There is a big imbalance between the input and output of oceanic nitrogen in global ocean nitrogen cycles, because a part of the fixed nitrogen is reduced to N2 or N2O and then lost from the ocean. Oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) is the most important area for nitrogen loss, which could lose fixed nitrogen up to 40 to 450 Tg·a-1 through the denitrification and anammox. A summary of the two main roles of nitrogen loss in the different OMZ sea areas reveals that heterotrophic denitrification dominates in eastern tropical Pacific, Arabian Sea, and marine sediments. The autotrophic denitrification has been found in Chile, Peru's coastal waters, and Arabian waters. In the Black Sea, the Benguela upwelling in southwestern Africa, and the northern coast of Chile, anaerobic ammonia oxidation is strong, with greater effects on the continental shelf than that in the ocean. In addition to the loss of nitrogen, nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium may affect the imbalance of nitrogen budget in the OMZ. The effects of nitrogen fixation can't be ignored. The total amount of nitrogen fixed in the global OMZ can reach 15-40 Tg·a-1, which is an important supplement to the loss of nitrogen in OMZ. Disentangling the relative contribution of denitrification and anammox to the loss of nitrogen, ascertaining the formation mechanism and quantitative evaluation method of N2O (another product of nitrogen loss) are the most important challenges in the current study of OMZ. Focusing on the existing problems, we put forward corresponding research ideas with references for related studies of the OMZs in the ocean.

Nitrogen transformations and nitrous oxide flux in a tropical deciduous forest in México.

Emissions of nitrous oxide and soil nitrogen pools and transformations were measured over an annual cycle in two forests and one pasture in tropical deciduous forest near Chamela, México. Nitrous oxide flux was moderately high (0.5-2.5 ng cm-2 h-1) during the wet season and low (<0.3 ng cm-2 h-1) during the dry season. Annual emissions of nitrogen as nitrous oxide were calculated to be 0.5-0.7 kg ha-1 y-1, with no substantial difference between the forests and pasture. Wetting of dry soil caused a large but short-lived pulse of N2O flux that accounted for <2% of annual flux. Variation in soil water through the season was the primary controlling factor for pool sizes of ammonium and nitrate, nitrogen transformations, and N2O flux.