Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6329637 | Science of The Total Environment | 2014 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
Budget estimates on the gulf-wide scale indicate that urea (177-530 t N) is not negligible compared to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (409-919 t N) and that it can constitute up to 56% of the nitrogen available for plankton growth. A large accumulation of urea can occur during summer periods characterized by stable weather conditions and weak circulation, whereas a biologically mediated degradation to ammonium is observed in autumn in concomitance to a strong shift of the marine ecosystem toward heterotrophic conditions. These processes, together with a potential competition between phytoplankton and bacteria for the utilization of this nitrogen form, suggest that the biogeochemical role of urea should be better investigated in mid-latitude coastal zones subjected to highly variable ambient conditions and to overloads of this compound.
Keywords
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Environmental Chemistry
Authors
Stefano Cozzi, Andrea Mistaro, Stefania Sparnocchia, Luigi Colugnati, Oliver Bajt, Loredana Toniatti,