Rapid, storm-induced changes in the natural abundance of sup 15 N in a planktonic ecosystem, Chesapeake Bay, USA

Samples of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), particulate nitrogen (PN), and two species of zooplankton were collected during two north-south transects of the Chesapeake Bay in the autumn of 1984 (27-28 September and 3-5 October). During the first transect, the natural abundance of {sup 15}N ({delta} {sup 15}N) in the major dissolved and planktonic pools of nitrogen suggested that the {delta}{sup 15}N of PN was largely determined by isotopic fractionation during uptake of NH{sub 4}{sup +} by phytoplankton. Averaged over the transect as a whole, the {delta}{sup 15}N of the herbivorous calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa was 4.1% higher than that of the PN, while the {delta}{sup 15}N of the carnivorous ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi was 6.4% higher than that of the PN. In the interval between the two transects, storm-induced mixing of the water column resulted in the injection of NH{sub 4}{sup +} into the surface layer of the bay. In combination with ancillary physical, chemical, and biological data, these changes in {delta}{sup 15}N provided estimates of the isotopic fractionation factor for NH{sub 4}{sup +} uptake by phytoplankton ({alpha} = 1.0065-1.0080) as well as the turnover time of nitrogen in Acartia tonsa (6.0-9.6 days). Despite the changes in {delta}{sup 15}N observed during this cruise, the relative distribution of {sup 15}N between trophic levels was preserved: during the second transect, the difference in {delta}{sup 15}N between Acartia tonsa and PN was 3.6%, and the difference in {delta}{sup 15}N between Mnemiopsis leidyi and PN was 7.3%. These results demonstrate that the natural abundance of {sup 15}N can change dramatically on a time scale of days, and that time-series studies of the natural abundance of {sup 15}N can be a useful complement to studies using tracer additions of {sup 15}N to document nitrogen transformations in planktonic ecosystems.