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Photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic nitrogen to ammonia in prairie lakes

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Abstract

We examined the rate of photoammonification in 16 lakes from Saskatchewan, Canada. Lakes were selected to encompass a broad range in dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) (269–1,435 μg l−1). Lake filtrate (<0.2 μm) was exposed to artificial solar radiation for 4 h. Rates of photoammonification were significant in 7 of the 16 study lakes. Ammonia (NH3) concentrations increased 0.84–2.85 μg l−1 over control values. This is a 4–92% increase in NH3 concentration and a conversion of 0.18–0.3% of the DON pool to NH3. We developed an empirical model to predict photoammonification rates across aquatic ecosystems. Photoammonification rates and ancillary parameters (i.e., pH, DOC and DON concentrations, DOC:DON ratios, and a350:DOC) were obtained from published studies to expand our dataset for model development. Model selection was conducted with Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC). DON concentration and pH were selected as model predictors by AIC. Our model explains 49% of the variance in photoammonification rate across a diverse set of aquatic systems. This model may be useful in estimating photoammonification rates in other aquatic systems.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NSERC (Canada) funding to JJH and University of Saskatchewan scholarships to JMS and DMV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, WP Thompson Building, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada

    Sereda Jeff, Kristine Hunter, David Vandergucht & Jeff Hudson

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  1. Sereda Jeff
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  2. Kristine Hunter
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  3. David Vandergucht
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  4. Jeff Hudson
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Correspondence to Sereda Jeff.

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Handling editor: Deanne Drake

Sereda Jeff and Kristine Hunter have contributed equally to the article.

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Jeff, S., Hunter, K., Vandergucht, D. et al. Photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic nitrogen to ammonia in prairie lakes. Hydrobiologia 693, 71–80 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1087-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1087-z

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