Potentially mineralizable nitrogen in sediments of the shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River area in China

Potentially mineralizable N (PMN) in sediments is an important N source to aquatic ecosystems. However, there are few studies on PMN in lake sediments. The main N fraction in lake sediments is organic, and mineralization is through benthic metabolism in sediments rather than in the water column in most shallow lake systems. It is shown that PMN contents in the studied sediments were higher than the inorganic N in the shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River area, China, and were also higher than those in soils from the same region. PMN constituted 3–26% (14%, on the average) of total N (TN) in sediments. Amino-acid N was the major contributor to the organic N pool in PMN. Potentially mineralizable N, TN, total P, organic matter, cation exchange capacity and fine-grain size were significantly correlated. With TN increasing in the slightly polluted sediments, PMN increased more rapidly in the heavily polluted sediments. The results suggest that more attention should be paid to organic N mineralization both in heavily and in less polluted sediments.