Articles | Volume 21, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3239-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3239-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
17 Jul 2024
Research article |
| 17 Jul 2024
| 17 Jul 2024
Variable contribution of wastewater treatment plant effluents to downstream nitrous oxide concentrations and emissions
Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Jeff Talbott
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Woodbridge, VA 22193, USA
Timothy Jones
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Woodbridge, VA 22193, USA
Bess B. Ward
Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
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Nitrification and nitrifiers play an important role in marine nitrogen and carbon cycles by converting ammonium to nitrite and nitrate. Nitrification could affect microbial community structure, marine productivity, and the production of nitrous oxide – a powerful greenhouse gas. We introduce the newly constructed database of nitrification and nitrifiers in the marine water column and guide future research efforts in field observations and model development of nitrification.
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N2 fixation by marine diazotrophs is an important bioavailable N source to the global ocean. This updated global oceanic diazotroph database increases the number of in situ measurements of N2 fixation rates, diazotrophic cell abundances, and nifH gene copy abundances by 184 %, 86 %, and 809 %, respectively. Using the updated database, the global marine N2 fixation rate is estimated at 223 ± 30 Tg N yr−1, which triplicates that using the original database.
Jenna A. Lee, Joseph H. Vineis, Mathieu A. Poupon, Laure Resplandy, and Bess B. Ward
Biogeosciences, 22, 4743–4761, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4743-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4743-2025, 2025
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Concurrent sampling of environmental parameters, productivity rates, photopigments, and DNA was used to analyze 24 L estuarine diatom bloom microcosms. Biogeochemical data and an ecological model indicated that the bloom was terminated by grazing. Comparisons to previous studies revealed (1) additional community and diversity complexity using 18S amplicon vs. traditional pigment–based analyses and (2) a potential global productivity–diversity relationship using 18S and carbon transport rates.
Colette L. Kelly, Nicole M. Travis, Pascale Anabelle Baya, Claudia Frey, Xin Sun, Bess B. Ward, and Karen L. Casciotti
Biogeosciences, 21, 3215–3238, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3215-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3215-2024, 2024
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Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, accumulates in regions of the ocean that are low in dissolved oxygen. We used a novel combination of chemical tracers to determine how nitrous oxide is produced in one of these regions, the eastern tropical North Pacific Ocean. Our experiments showed that the two most important sources of nitrous oxide under low-oxygen conditions are denitrification, an anaerobic process, and a novel “hybrid” process performed by ammonia-oxidizing archaea.
Weiyi Tang, Bess B. Ward, Michael Beman, Laura Bristow, Darren Clark, Sarah Fawcett, Claudia Frey, François Fripiat, Gerhard J. Herndl, Mhlangabezi Mdutyana, Fabien Paulot, Xuefeng Peng, Alyson E. Santoro, Takuhei Shiozaki, Eva Sintes, Charles Stock, Xin Sun, Xianhui S. Wan, Min N. Xu, and Yao Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5039–5077, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5039-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5039-2023, 2023
Short summary
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Nitrification and nitrifiers play an important role in marine nitrogen and carbon cycles by converting ammonium to nitrite and nitrate. Nitrification could affect microbial community structure, marine productivity, and the production of nitrous oxide – a powerful greenhouse gas. We introduce the newly constructed database of nitrification and nitrifiers in the marine water column and guide future research efforts in field observations and model development of nitrification.
Zhibo Shao, Yangchun Xu, Hua Wang, Weicheng Luo, Lice Wang, Yuhong Huang, Nona Sheila R. Agawin, Ayaz Ahmed, Mar Benavides, Mikkel Bentzon-Tilia, Ilana Berman-Frank, Hugo Berthelot, Isabelle C. Biegala, Mariana B. Bif, Antonio Bode, Sophie Bonnet, Deborah A. Bronk, Mark V. Brown, Lisa Campbell, Douglas G. Capone, Edward J. Carpenter, Nicolas Cassar, Bonnie X. Chang, Dreux Chappell, Yuh-ling Lee Chen, Matthew J. Church, Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo, Amália Maria Sacilotto Detoni, Scott C. Doney, Cecile Dupouy, Marta Estrada, Camila Fernandez, Bieito Fernández-Castro, Debany Fonseca-Batista, Rachel A. Foster, Ken Furuya, Nicole Garcia, Kanji Goto, Jesús Gago, Mary R. Gradoville, M. Robert Hamersley, Britt A. Henke, Cora Hörstmann, Amal Jayakumar, Zhibing Jiang, Shuh-Ji Kao, David M. Karl, Leila R. Kittu, Angela N. Knapp, Sanjeev Kumar, Julie LaRoche, Hongbin Liu, Jiaxing Liu, Caroline Lory, Carolin R. Löscher, Emilio Marañón, Lauren F. Messer, Matthew M. Mills, Wiebke Mohr, Pia H. Moisander, Claire Mahaffey, Robert Moore, Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, Margaret R. Mulholland, Shin-ichiro Nakaoka, Joseph A. Needoba, Eric J. Raes, Eyal Rahav, Teodoro Ramírez-Cárdenas, Christian Furbo Reeder, Lasse Riemann, Virginie Riou, Julie C. Robidart, Vedula V. S. S. Sarma, Takuya Sato, Himanshu Saxena, Corday Selden, Justin R. Seymour, Dalin Shi, Takuhei Shiozaki, Arvind Singh, Rachel E. Sipler, Jun Sun, Koji Suzuki, Kazutaka Takahashi, Yehui Tan, Weiyi Tang, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Kendra Turk-Kubo, Zuozhu Wen, Angelicque E. White, Samuel T. Wilson, Takashi Yoshida, Jonathan P. Zehr, Run Zhang, Yao Zhang, and Ya-Wei Luo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3673–3709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3673-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3673-2023, 2023
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N2 fixation by marine diazotrophs is an important bioavailable N source to the global ocean. This updated global oceanic diazotroph database increases the number of in situ measurements of N2 fixation rates, diazotrophic cell abundances, and nifH gene copy abundances by 184 %, 86 %, and 809 %, respectively. Using the updated database, the global marine N2 fixation rate is estimated at 223 ± 30 Tg N yr−1, which triplicates that using the original database.
John C. Tracey, Andrew R. Babbin, Elizabeth Wallace, Xin Sun, Katherine L. DuRussel, Claudia Frey, Donald E. Martocello III, Tyler Tamasi, Sergey Oleynik, and Bess B. Ward
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Nitrogen (N) is essential for life; thus, its availability plays a key role in determining marine productivity. Using incubations of seawater spiked with a rare form of N measurable on a mass spectrometer, we quantified microbial pathways that determine marine N availability. The results show that pathways that recycle N have higher rates than those that result in its loss from biomass and present new evidence for anaerobic nitrite oxidation, a process long thought to be strictly aerobic.
Mhlangabezi Mdutyana, Tanya Marshall, Xin Sun, Jessica M. Burger, Sandy J. Thomalla, Bess B. Ward, and Sarah E. Fawcett
Biogeosciences, 19, 3425–3444, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3425-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3425-2022, 2022
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Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in the winter Southern Ocean show a high affinity for nitrite but require a minimum (i.e., "threshold") concentration before they increase their rates of nitrite oxidation significantly. The classic Michaelis–Menten model thus cannot be used to derive the kinetic parameters, so a modified equation was employed that also yields the threshold nitrite concentration. Dissolved iron availability may play an important role in limiting nitrite oxidation.
Kai G. Schulz, Eric P. Achterberg, Javier Arístegui, Lennart T. Bach, Isabel Baños, Tim Boxhammer, Dirk Erler, Maricarmen Igarza, Verena Kalter, Andrea Ludwig, Carolin Löscher, Jana Meyer, Judith Meyer, Fabrizio Minutolo, Elisabeth von der Esch, Bess B. Ward, and Ulf Riebesell
Biogeosciences, 18, 4305–4320, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4305-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4305-2021, 2021
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Upwelling of nutrient-rich deep waters to the surface make eastern boundary upwelling systems hot spots of marine productivity. This leads to subsurface oxygen depletion and the transformation of bioavailable nitrogen into inert N2. Here we quantify nitrogen loss processes following a simulated deep water upwelling. Denitrification was the dominant process, and budget calculations suggest that a significant portion of nitrogen that could be exported to depth is already lost in the surface ocean.
Amal Jayakumar and Bess B. Ward
Biogeosciences, 17, 5953–5966, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5953-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5953-2020, 2020
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Diversity and community composition of nitrogen-fixing microbes in the three main oxygen minimum zones of the world ocean were investigated using nifH clone libraries. Representatives of three main clusters of nifH genes were detected. Sequences were most diverse in the surface waters. The most abundant OTUs were affiliated with Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria. The sequences were biogeographically distinct and the dominance of a few OTUs was commonly observed in OMZs in this (and other) studies.
Samuel T. Wilson, Alia N. Al-Haj, Annie Bourbonnais, Claudia Frey, Robinson W. Fulweiler, John D. Kessler, Hannah K. Marchant, Jana Milucka, Nicholas E. Ray, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Brett F. Thornton, Robert C. Upstill-Goddard, Thomas S. Weber, Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez, Hermann W. Bange, Heather M. Benway, Daniele Bianchi, Alberto V. Borges, Bonnie X. Chang, Patrick M. Crill, Daniela A. del Valle, Laura Farías, Samantha B. Joye, Annette Kock, Jabrane Labidi, Cara C. Manning, John W. Pohlman, Gregor Rehder, Katy J. Sparrow, Philippe D. Tortell, Tina Treude, David L. Valentine, Bess B. Ward, Simon Yang, and Leonid N. Yurganov
Biogeosciences, 17, 5809–5828, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5809-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5809-2020, 2020
Short summary
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The oceans are a net source of the major greenhouse gases; however there has been little coordination of oceanic methane and nitrous oxide measurements. The scientific community has recently embarked on a series of capacity-building exercises to improve the interoperability of dissolved methane and nitrous oxide measurements. This paper derives from a workshop which discussed the challenges and opportunities for oceanic methane and nitrous oxide research in the near future.
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Short summary
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known to be hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the impact of WWTPs on the emission of the greenhouse gas N2O in downstream aquatic environments is less constrained. We found spatially and temporally variable but overall higher N2O concentrations and fluxes in waters downstream of WWTPs, pointing to the need for efficient N2O removal in addition to the treatment of nitrogen in WWTPs.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are known to be hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions....
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