Nitrogen cycling in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie: oscillations between strong and weak export and implications for harmful algal blooms

Salk, Kateri R.; Bullerjahn, George S.; McKay, Robert Michael L.; Chaffin, Justin D.; Ostrom, Nathaniel E.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2891-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2891-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2891-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 9

Research article

|

16 May 2018

Research article |

| 16 May 2018

Nitrogen cycling in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie: oscillations between strong and weak export and implications for harmful algal blooms

Kateri R. Salk, George S. Bullerjahn, Robert Michael L. McKay, Justin D. Chaffin, and Nathaniel E. Ostrom

Data sets

KateriSalk/SanduskyBay_NitrogenCycle: bg-2017-528 Kateri R. Salk, George S. Bullerjahn, Robert Michael L. McKay, Justin D. Chaffin, and Nathaniel E. Ostrom https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1148802

SanduskyBay\_NitrogenCycle K. R. Salk, G. S. Bullerjahn, R. M. L. McKay, J. D. Chaffin, and N. E. Ostrom https://github.com/KateriSalk/SanduskyBay_NitrogenCycle

Short summary

This paper highlights dynamic nitrogen cycling in a freshwater estuary, with implications for harmful algal blooms and downstream nitrogen loading. Phytoplankton and microbes actively consumed nitrogen in this system, contributing to recycling of nitrogen within the system and permanent nitrogen removal, respectively. However, delivery of nitrogen from the river and fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by phytoplankton outweighed nitrogen uptake, resulting in variable downstream nitrogen delivery.