ABSTRACT:This paper advances the hypothesis that nitrification exists in shallow streams as a result of surface activity and in estuaries due to growth in the water phase. Between these zones no significant levels of nitrification occur. Field measurements of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen, enumerations ofNitrosomonasandNitrobacter, and respirometry on two small streams and two moderately large rivers are presented. The appropriate mathematical models to describe nitrification must be based on the mechanisms involved ‐ bacterial growth kinetics for estuaries and zero kinetics for the surface activity in shallow stream
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