Skip to main content
Log in

Bioturbation effects of the amphipod Corophium volutator on microbial nitrogen transformations in marine sediments

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Microcosms containing different densities of Corophium volutator, ranging from 0 to 6000 ind m-2, were incubated in a flow-through system. Benthic fluxes of CO2, O2, NO3 - and NH4 + were measured regularly. Thirteen days after setup the microcosms were sacrificed and sediment characteristics, pore water NO3 -, NH4 + and exchangeable NH4 + concentrations, and potential nitrification activity were measured. The presence of C. volutator increased overall mineralization processes due to burrow construction and irrigation. The amphipods increased the ratio ΣCO2/O2 fluxes from 0.73 to 0.86 in microcosms inhabited by 0 and 6000 ind m-2, respectively. Burrow ventilation removed NH4 + from the sediment, which was nitrified in the oxic layer and transported NO3 - to the burrow sediment, where denitrification potential was enhanced. Nitrification and total denitrification rates (denitrification of NO3 - coming from the overlying water and of NO3 - generated within the sediment) were calculated and discussed. Bioturbation by C. volutator increased both nitrification and denitrification, but denitrification was stimulated more than nitrification. Denitrification of NO3 - coming from the overlying water was stimulated 1.2- and 1.7-fold in microcosms containing 3000 and 6000 ind m-2 relative to control microcosms. The presence of C. volutator (6000 ind m-2) stimulated nitrogen removal from the system, as dinitrogen, 1.5-fold relative to non-bioturbated microcosms. C. volutator individuals used in our study were collected from Norsminde Fjord, Denmark, in 1990.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarhus Amtskomunne (1981) Odder Aa-Norsminde Fjord, 1975–1981. Aarhus Amtskomunne, Aarhus

    Google Scholar 

  • Aller RC (1988) Benthic fauna and biogeochemical processes in marine sediments: the role of burrow structures. In: Blackburn TH, Sørensen J (eds) Nitrogen cycling in coastal marine environments. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Chichester, pp 301–338

    Google Scholar 

  • Aller RC (1990) Bioturbation and manganese cycling in hemipelagic sediments. Phil Trans R Soc Lond 331:51–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen FØ, Hargrave BT (1984) Effects of spartina detritus enrichment on aerobic/anaerobic benthic metabolism in an intertidal sediment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 16:161–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen FØ, Kristensen E (1988) The influence of macrofauna on estuarine benthic community metabolism: a microcosm study. Mar Biol 99:591–603

    Google Scholar 

  • Birklund J (1977) Biomass, growth and production of the amphipod Corophium insidiosum Crawford, and preliminary notes on Corophium volutator Pallas. Ophelia 16:187–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn TH (1980) Seasonal variations in the rate of organic-N mineralization in anoxic marine sediments. In: CNRS (ed) Biogeochimie de la Matière Organique à L'interface Eau-Sédiment Marin, Colloq. Int CNRS 293, Paris pp 173–183

  • Blackburn TH (1990) Elemental cycles. In: Phillips RC, McRoy CP (eds) Seagrass research methods. Monographs on oceanographic methodology 9. Unesco, Paris, pp 167–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn TH, Henriksen K (1983) Nitrogen cycling in different types of sediments from Danish waters. Limnol Oceanogr 28:477–493

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn TH, Lund BAa, Krom MD (1988) C- and N-mineralization in the sediments of earthen marine fishponds. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 44:221–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Canfield DE, Thamdrup B, Hansen JW (1993) The anaerobic degradation of organic matter in Danish coastal sediments: iron reduction, manganese reduction, and sulfate reduction. Geochim cosmochim Acta 57:3867–3883

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasshoff K, Erhardt M, Kremling K (1983) Methods of seawater analysis. Basel Verlag Chemie, Florida

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen LS, Blackburn TH (1991) Aerobic and anerobic mineralization of organic material in marine sediment microcosms. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 75:283–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen LS, Blackburn TH (1992a) Effect of algal bloom deposition on sediment respiration and fluxes. Mar Biol 112:147–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen LS, Blackburn TH (1992b) Mineralization budgets in sediment microcosms: effect of the infauna and anoxic conditions. Fedn eur microbiol Soc (FEMS) Microbiol Ecol 102:33–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargrave BT, Phillips GA (1981) Annual in situ carbon dioxide and oxygen flux across a subtidal marine sediment. Estuar cstl Shelf Sci 12:725–737

    Google Scholar 

  • Henriksen K, Blackburn TH, Lomstein BA, McRoy CP (1993) Rates of nitrification, distribution of nitrifying bacteria and inorganic N fluxes in northern Bering-Chukchi shelf sediments. Contin Shelf Res 13:629–651

    Google Scholar 

  • Henriksen K, Hansen JI, Blackburn TH (1980) The influence of benthic infauna on exchange rates of inorganic nitrogen between sediment and water. Ophelia (Suppl) 1:249–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Henriksen K, Rasmussen MB, Jensen A (1983) Effect of bioturbation on microbial nitrogen transformations in the sediment and fluxes of amnonium and nitrate to the overlying water. Ecol Bull, Stockholm 35:193–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Hines ME, Jones GE (1985) Microbial biogeochemistry and bioturbation in the sediments of Great Bay, New Hampshire. Estuar cstl Shelf Sci 20:729–742

    Google Scholar 

  • Hylleberg J, Henriksen K (1980) The central role of bioturbation in sediment mineralization and element re-cycling. Ophelia (Suppl) 1:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen E (1988) Benthic fauna and biogeochemical processes in marine sediments: microbial activities and fluxes. In: Blackburn TH, Sørensen J (eds) Nitrogen cycling in coastal marine environments. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Chichester, pp 275–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen E, Blackburn TH (1987) The fate of organic carbon and nitrogen in experimental marine sediment systems: influence of bioturbation and anoxia. J mar Res 45:231–257

    Google Scholar 

  • McLusky DS (1969) The oxygen consumption of Corophium volutator in relation to salinity. Comp Biochem Physiol 29:743–753

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelegrí SP, Blackburn TH (1994) Effect of bioturbation by Nereis sp., Mya arenaria and Cerastoderma sp. on nitrification and denitrification in estuarine sediments. Ophelia (in press)

  • Pelegrí SP, Nielsen LP, Blackburn TH (1994) Denitrification in estuarine sediment stimulated by the irrigation activity of the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 105:285–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhoads DC (1974) Organism-sediment relations on the muddy sea floor. Oceanogr mar Bull A Rev 12:263–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenfeld JK (1979) Ammonium adsorption in nearshore anoxic sediments. Limnol Oceanogr 24:356–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen J (1978) Capacity for denitrification and reduction of nitrate to ammonia in a coastal marine sediment. Appl envirl Microbiol 35:301–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Talling JF (1973) The application of some electrochemical methods to the measurement of photosynthesis and respiration in fresh waters. Freshwat Biol 3:335–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Thamdrup B, Fossing H, Jørgensen BB (1994) Manganese, iron and sulfur cycling in coastal marine sediment (Aarhus Bay, Denmark). Geochim cosmochim Acta (in press)

  • Therkildsen MS, Lomstein BA (1993) Seasonal variation in net benthic C-mineralization in a shallow estuary. Fedn eur microbiol Soc (FEMS) Microbiol Ecol 12:131–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorsen G (1975) Infaunaen, den jævne havbunds dyresamfund. In: Böcher TW, Nielsen CO, Schou A (eds) Danmarks Natur III (Havet). Politikens Forlag, Copenhagen, pp 82–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss RF, Price BA (1980) Nitrous oxide solubility in water and seawater. Mar Chem 8:347–359

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Communicated by T. M. Fenchel, Helsingør

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pelegrí, S.P., Blackburn, T.H. Bioturbation effects of the amphipod Corophium volutator on microbial nitrogen transformations in marine sediments. Marine Biology 121, 253–258 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346733

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346733

Keywords

Navigation