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Benthic processes were measured at a coastal deposition area in the northern Baltic Sea, covering all seasons. The N2 production rates, 90–400 μmol N m−2 d−1, were highest in autumn-early winter and lowest in spring. Heterotrophic bacterial production peaked unexpectedly late in the year, indicating that in addition to the temperature, the availability of carbon compounds suitable for the heterotrophic bacteria also plays a major role in regulating the denitrification rate. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) was measured in spring and autumn and contributed 10% and 15%, respectively, to the total N2 production. The low percentage did, however, result in a significant error in the total N2 production rate estimate, calculated using the isotope pairing technique. Anammox must be taken into account in the Gulf of Finland in future sediment nitrogen cycling research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cyanobacterial bloom in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, was sampled throughout the development and senescence of aggregates in August 1999. While conditions inside the aggregates were favourable for denitrification (rich in nitrogen and carbon, with anoxic microzones), essentially none was detected by a sensitive isotope pairing method. Polymerase chain reaction-based methods, targeting functional genes encoding the key enzymes of denitrification and nitrification processes (nirS, nirK, amoA), revealed that the non-aggregated filaments harboured amoA gene fragments with high similarity to Nitrosospira amoA sequences, as well as both types of nitrite reductase genes, nirS and nirK. Only the nirS-type nitrite reductase gene and no amoA was detected in aggregated filaments. Thus, despite optimal environmental conditions and genetic potential for denitrification, the blooms of filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria must be seen solely as a source, and not as a sink of nitrogen in the Baltic Sea. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The redoxclines that form between the oxic and anoxic water layers in the central Baltic Sea are sites of intensive nitrogen cycling. To gain better understanding of nitrification, we measured the biogeochemical properties along with potential nitrification rates and analyzed the assemblages of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea using functional gene microarrays. To estimate nitrification in the entire water column, we constructed a regression model for the nitrification rates and applied it to the conditions prevailing in the area in 2008–2012. The highest ammonia oxidation rates were found in a thin layer at the top of the redoxcline and the rates quickly decreased below detection limit when oxygen was exhausted. This is probably because extensive suboxic layers, which are known to harbor pelagic nitrification, are formed only for short periods after inflows in the Baltic Sea. The nitrification rates were some of the highest measured in the water columns, but the thickness of the layer where conditions were favorable for nitrification, was very small and it remained fairly stable between years. However, the depth of the nitrification layer varied substantially between years, particularly in the eastern Gotland Basin (EGB) due to turbulence in the water column. The ammonia oxidizer communities clustered differently between the eastern and western Gotland Basin (WGB) and the composition of ammonia-oxidizing assemblages correlated with the environmental variables. The ammonia oxidizer community composition was more even in the EGB, which may be related to physical instability of the redoxcline that does not allow predominance of a single archetype, whereas in the WGB, where the position of the redoxcline is more constant, the ammonia-oxidizing community was less even. Overall the ammonia-oxidizing communities in the Baltic Sea redoxclines were very evenly distributed compared to other marine environments where microarrays have been applied previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland is currently dominated by internal phosphorus loading from sediments. The internal load is highly redox sensitive, and its successful modelling on basin-wide scale requires a simplified description of the sediment process. We present here an approach in which redox-sensitive sediment processes are directly linked to the decomposition of carbon instead of the oxygen concentration in near-bottom water. Mineralisation of organic carbon is known to be the major factor controlling sediment nutrient cycling, including denitrification and Fe(III) oxide reduction, giving rise to high phosphorus fluxes from anoxic sediments. Our sediment process description requires only four main parameters, which are here identified by using in situ CO2, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) flux measurements carried out by Göteborg University landers. The model was tested with the aid of time series of denitrification and DIP flux rates measured in the western Gulf of Finland. Modelled near-bottom and surface nutrient concentrations were compared with monitoring data from both the eastern and western Gulf of Finland. The model simulations showed that the average net ecosystem production entering the sediment surface from the euphotic layer was 49g C m−2 a−1. This organic load induced an average denitrification rate of 2.5 g N m−2 a−1 and DIP flux of 0.67 g P m−2 a−1, corresponding to 20,200 t P a−1 for the whole Gulf of Finland. The model was able to describe the seasonality of denitrification and sediment DIP flux with high precision. Further, the modelled near-bottom and surface nutrient concentrations were compatible with the available data. The results indicate that, on the scales important for coastal and open sea conditions, our simple sediment process description works well. The new tool will help us to use 3D models to study the effects of external load on the production and decomposition of organic matter, and on subsequent benthic nutrient fluxes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]