Denitrification rates in boreo-arctic sponges - data of sponge species from Korsfjord (Norway) and the Schulz Bank (Arctic Ocean) ...

• Main Authors: Rooks, Christine, Fang, James Kar-Hei, Mørkved, Pål Tore, Zhao, Rui, Rapp, Hans Tore, Xavier, Joana R, Hoffmann, Friederike
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: Event label; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; File content; File type; Uniform resource locator/link to file; Multiple investigations; Deep-sea Sponge Grounds Ecosystems of the North Atlantic SponGES; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Norway; Schulz Bank; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.899821; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.899821

Sponges are commonly known as general nutrient providers for the marine ecosystem, recycling organic matter into various forms of bio-available nutrients such as ammonium and nitrate. In this study we challenge this view. We show that nutrient removal through microbial denitrification is a common feature in six cold-water sponge species from boreal and Arctic sponge grounds. Denitrification rates were quantified by incubating sponge tissue sections with 15NO3- - amended oxygen saturated seawater, mimicking conditions in pumping sponges, and de-oxygenated seawater, mimicking non-pumping sponges. Rates of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) using incubations with 15NH4+ could not be detected. Denitrification rates of the different sponge species ranged from 0 to 97 nmol N cm-3 sponge day-1 under oxic conditions, and from 24 to 279 nmol N cm-3 sponge day-1 under anoxic conditions. A positive relationship between the highest potential rates of denitrification (in the absence of oxygen) and the ...