New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

---

Nitrogenase activity and estimates of nitrogen fixation by freshwater benthic blue-green algae

Catherine W. Y. Lam*

Warwick F. Vincent

Warwick B. Silvester

Department of Botany, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract The sandy substrate of Lake Taharoa (west coast, North Island, New Zealand - 35°50'S, 173°41'E) is covered by communities of filamentous algae that extend from the exposed beach down to 21 m depth. The algae bind the sand to form crusts and mats which may break off as discrete plates. The dominant species are the blue-greens Microcoleus, Nostoc, Phormidium, Lyngbya, Oscillatoria, Scytonema, Stigonema, Shizothrix, Calothrix, Dichothrix, Tolypothrix, and Anabaena, with occasional high concentrations of the desmid Cylindrocystis. Nitrogenase activity, measured by acetylene reduction, showed a wide range of rates (4-150 ,amol C2H4 m^lr¹). Estimates of annual rates of nitrogen fixation by the Taharoa communities are comparable with those for periphytic blue-green algae-dominated systems reported elsewhere.

New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 1979, 13(1): 187-192.
Received 15 February 1977; revision received 11 December 1978

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (463K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

---

This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page