Fundamental question remain on how nitrogen (N) cycles in oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) and on the relative contribution of denitrification and anammox to the loss of fixed N. Recent work by scientists at the University of Washington and Princeton University showed the occurrence of anammox and denitrification in the OMZ of the Arabian Sea and indicated that denitrification dominated the fixed N removal in contrast to reports for the OMZ in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific (ESTP). The observed difference was attributed to the nature and timing of organic carbon supplied to the OMZ waters. In this project, the scientists propose to explain the limited observations of denitrifications in the OMZs by documenting that denitrification is linked to the flux of organic carbon from surface waters whereas anammox does not respond directly to organic C inputs but depends on the flux of soluble byproducts such as ammonium and nitrite released during the breakdown of organic matter. A field program involving two separate cruises, one to the ETSP and one to the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) will be carried. These sites were selected because the ESTP is the most studied of the three major OMZs whereas the ETNP is the largest OMZ by volume and may be quantitatively the most important in terms of combined nitrogen removal. The experimental plan to attain their goals include the following: (1) use extensive spatial coverage as a substitute for high resolution temporal coverage to obtain many measurements of denitrification and anammox rates; (2) use manipulation experiments to investigate the response of denitrification and anammox rates to specific perturbations such as organic matter additions and transient oxygen perturbation; (3) use new tracer measurements to distinguish denitrification, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium and anammox in incubation experiments; (4) use DNA/RNA microarrays to investigate relationships between transformation rates and the denitrifier assemblage to resolve the role of particles in stimulation of denitrification rates; and (5) use high sensitivity oxygen probes to define the oxygen distribution and to follow oxygen dynamics at low levels in tracer incubation.
In terms of the broader impacts, the University of Washington plans to contribute time on the R/V Thompson so that undergraduate students can participate in a cruise and learn about the methods and techniques involved in carrying out oceanographic research, especially those related to this study. One graduate student from the University of Washington and one postdoc, one graduate student and one undergraduate student from Princeton University would be supported and trained as part of this project.
