ABSTRACT
Removal of nitrogen and other nutrients from secondary wastewater is costly and beyond the reach of many communities throughout the United States. Wetlands remove nitrogen from wastewater by two pathways: storage (assimilation or adsorption) in the system, or removal through denitrification and ammonia volatilization. This chapter aims to survey the nitrification-denitrification coup-hng potential (NDCP) of representative freshwater wetlands in North Florida and relate this potential to wetland soil properties. Four types of freshwater wetlands were chosen: savannah, cypress, black gum, and titi swamps. Savannahs had the shortest hydroperiod, cypress and black gum swamps the longest, and the titi swamp’s was intermediate. Surprisingly, soil organic carbon content had little bearing on nitrification and denitrification rates of these soils. The C/N ratio was better correlated with nitrification and denitrification rates. Nitrification rate is, in effect, the limiting factor for nitrogen removal through denitrification in wetlands.
