Abstract. Factors influencing the dynamics of nitrate and sulphate concentration observed in a south Normandy peatland were determined experimentally. The effects of high or low nitrate input, and oxic or anoxic conditions on microbial activity were investigated in bioreactors, using peat samples from field sites influenced by different hydrologic regimes. Site S, unlike site G, was characterized by the presence of hydrogeological gradients inducing water fluxes from river to peat during most of the hydrological cycle. Peat samples from both sites were subjected to similar experimental conditions to distinguish between the chemical effects (NO₃^-, O₂) and the physical effects (hydrologic regimes).

[Cl^-], [SO₄^2-] and [NO₃^-] were monitored for 240 h. Nitrate was significantly reduced in most experiments: (1) Removal of 70% of the initial nitrate content after 51 h under anoxic conditions; (2) Complete nitrate reduction after 240 h in soil from the S site. This reduction was interpreted as heterotrophic denitrification. Sulphate monitoring revealed that 400 mg/L were produced in peat from site S under aerobic conditions. Sulphate changes under anaerobiosis were not significant or, for samples from G, under any conditions. Clear differences in chloride content (deviance analysis, P<0.05), sulphate concentration and nitrate consumption dynamics (deviance analysis, P<0.0001) were observed between the G and S sites. Our results demonstrate that the rates of nitrate removal and sulphate production differ between peat samples from sites subjected to different hydrological regimes, even under similar redox and nitrate conditions. This experimental approach highlights the effect of hydrological fluxes leading to modifications of microbial activity which are likely related to changes in microbial diversity.