Bacterial biomass-derived organic matter triggers nitrous oxide production and positive priming effect in lake sediments

This study investigated the degradation of bacterial biomass-derived OM and its impacts on CO2 and N2O emission in the sediments of 20 lakes with different salinities (0.9-247.0 g l-1) in this study. Specifically, CO2 and N2O production, PE generation and their associated microbial communities and functional genes as well as microbial interactions with dissolved OM molecules, were analyzed in lake sediment microcosms with dead heterotrophic bacterial biomass (13C- and 15N-labelled cell biomass from Sphingomonas sp.) additions after 28 days of incubation.