Bacterial immobilization and remineralization of N at different growth rates and N concentrations

An experiment was designed to resolve two largely unaddressed questions about the turnover of N in soils. One is the influence of microbial growth rate on mobilization and remineralization of cellular N. The other is to what extent heterotrophic immobilization of NO3- is controlled by the soil concentration of NH4+. Bacteria were extracted from a deciduous forest soil and inoculated into an aqueous medium. Various N pool dilution/enrichment experiments were carried out to: (1) calculate the gross N immobilization and remineralization rates; (2) investigate their dependence on NH4+andNO3- concentrations; (3) establish the microbial preference for NH4+andNO3- depending on the NH4+/NO3- concentration ratio. Remineralization of microbial N occurred mainly at high growth rates and NH4+ concentrations. There was a positive correlation between NH4+ immobilization and remineralization rates, and intracellular recycling of N seemed to be an efficient way for bacteria to withstand low inorganic N concentrations. Thus, extensive remineralization of microbial N is likely to occur only when environmental conditions promote high growth rates. The results support previous observations of high NO3- immobilization rates, especially at low NH4+ concentrations, but NO3- was also immobilized at high NH4 concentrations. The latter can be understood if part of the microbial community has a preference for NO3-overNH4+.