Effects of temperature change and tree species composition on N2O and NO emissions in acidic forest soils of subtropical China

Tree species and temperature change arising from seasonal variation or global warming are two important factors influencing N2O and NO emissions from forest soils. However, few studies have examined the effects of temperatures(5–35℃) on the emissions of forest soil N2O and NO in typical subtropical region. A short-term laboratory experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of temperature changes(5–35℃) on soil N2O and NO emissions under aerobic conditions in two contrasting(broad-leaved and coniferous) subtropical acidic forest types in China. The results showed that the temporal pattern of N2O and NO emissions between the three lower temperatures(5℃, 15℃, and 25℃) and 35℃ was significantly different for both broad-leaved and coniferous forest soils. The effects of temperature on soil N2O and NO emission rates varied between broad-leaved and coniferous forest soils. Both N2O and NO emissions increased exponentially with an increase in temperature in the broad-leaved forest soil. However, N2O and NO emissions in the coniferous forest soil were not sensitive to temperature change between 5℃ and 25℃. N2O and NO emission rates were significantly higher in the broad-leaved forest soil as compared with the coniferous forest soil at all incubation temperatures except 5℃. These results suggest that the broad-leaved forest could contribute more N2O and NO emissions than the coniferous forest for most of the year in the subtropical region of China.     

Nitrous oxide emissions in nonflooding period from fallow paddy fields

The study was conducted to investigate the N2O emissions and dissolved N2O in the leachate during the nonflooding period in nongrowing paddy fields.Three kinds of paddy soils were repacked to soil columns and were supersaturated with water initially and dried gradually in a greenhouse to attain the N2O emissions flux during the incubation.Soils with the texture of silty clay-loam (Q and H) produced cracks during the drying of soil,but soil with the texture of silty loam (X) did not form the cracks.Cracked s...     

Determination of respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in soil profile using BaPS system

A facility of BaPS （Barometric Process Separation） was used to determine soil respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in a winter wheat field with depths of 0-7, 7--14 and 14-21 cm. N2O production was determined by a gas chromatograph. Crop root mass and relevant soil parameters were measured. Results showed that soil respiration and gross nitrification decreased with the increase of soil depth, while denitrification did not change significantly. In comparison with no-plowing plot, soil respiration increased significantly in plowing plot, especially in the surface soil of 0-7 cm, while gross nitrification and denitrification rates were not affected by plowing. Cropping practice in previous season was found to affect soil gross nitrification in the following wheat-growing season. Higher gross nitrification rate occurred in the filed plot with preceding crop of rice compared with that of maize for all the three depths of 0-7, 7-14 and 14-21 cm. A further investigation indicated that the nitrification for all the cases accounted for about 76% of the total nitrogen transformation processes of nitrification and denitrification and the N2O production correlated with nitrification significantly, suggesting that nitrification is a key process of soil N2O production in the wheat field. In addition, the variations of soil respiration and gross nitrification were exponentially dependent on root mass （p〈0.00l）.     

Effects of long-term amendment of organic manure and nitrogen fertilizer on nitrous oxide emission in a sandy loam soil

To understand the effects of long-term amendment of organic manure and N fertilizer on N2O emission in the North China Plain, a laboratory incubation at different temperatures and soil moistures were carried out using soils treated with organic manure （OM）, half organic manure plus half fertilizer N （HOM）, fertilizer NPK （NPK）, fertilizer NP （NP）, fertilizer NK （NK）, fertilizer PK （NK） and control （CK） since 1989. Cumulative N2O emission in OM soil during the 17 d incubation period was slightly higher than in NPK soil under optimum nitrification conditions （25℃ and 60% water-filled pore space, WFPS）, but more than twice under the optimum denitrification conditions （35℃ and 90% WFPS）. N2O produced by denitrification was 2.1-2.3 times greater than that by nitrification in OM and HOM soils, but only 1.5 times greater in NPK and NP soils. These results implied that the long-term amendment of organic manure could significantly increase the N2O emission via denitrification in OM soil as compared to NPK soil. This is quite different from field measurement between OM soil and NPK soil. Substantial inhibition of the formation of anaerobic environment for denitrification in field might result in no marked difference in N2O emission between OM and NPK soils. This is due in part to more rapid oxygen diffusion in coarse textured soils than consumption by aerobic microbes until WFPS was 75% and to low easily decomposed organic C of organic manure. This finding suggested that addition of organic manure in the tested sandy loam might be a good management option since it seldom caused a burst of N2O emission but sequestered atmospheric C and maintained efficiently applied N in soil.     

Minimizing N2O fluxes from full-scale municipal solid waste landfill with properly selected cover soil

Municipal solid waste landfills emit nitrous oxide （N2O） gas. Assuming that the soil cover is the primary N2O source from landfills, this study tested, during a four-year project, the hypothesis that the proper use of chosen soils with fine texture minimizes N2O emissions. A full-scale sanitary landfill, a full-scale bioreactor landfill and a cell planted with Nerium indicum or Festuca arundinacea Schreb, at the Hangzhou Tianziling landfill in Hangzhou City were the test sites. The N2O emission rates from all test sites were considerably lower than those reported in the published reports. Specifically, the N2O emission rate was dependent on soil water content and nitrate concentrations in the cover soil. The effects of leachate recirculation and irrigation were minimal. Properly chosen cover soils applied to the landfills reduced N2O flux.     

Effects of chlorothalonil and carbendazim on nitrification and denitrification in soils

The effects of chlorothalonil and carbendazim on nitrification and denitrification in six soils in upland and rice paddy environments were investigated. Laboratory aerobic (60% water holding capacity) and anaerobic (flooded) conditions were studied at 25°C and fungicide addition rates of 5.5 mg/kg A. I. (field rate, FR), 20 times (20FR) and 40 times (40FR) field rate, respectively. The results indicated that chlorothalonil at the field rate had a slight inhibitory effect on one soil only, and that soil did ...     

Minimizing N_20 fluxes from full-scale municipal solid waste landfill with properly selected cover soil

Municipal solid waste landfills emit nitrous oxide(N_2O)gas.Assuming that the soil cover is the primary N_2O source from landfills, this study tested,during a four-year project,the hypothesis that the proper use of chosen soils with fine texture minimizes N_2O emissions.A full-scale sanitary landfill,a full-scale bioreactor landfill and a cell planted with Nerium indicum or Festuca arundinacea Schreb,at the Hangzhou Tianziling landfill in Hangzhou City were the test sites.The N_2O emission rates from all test sites were considerably lower than those reported in the published reports.Specifically,the N_2O emission rate was dependent on soil water content and nitrate concentrations in the cover soil.The effects of leachate recirculation and irrigation were minimal.Properly chosen cover soils applied to the landfills reduced N_2O flux.     

Conversion of nitrogen and carbon in enriched paddy soil by denitrification coupled with anammox in a bioelectrochemical system

The aim of this study is to investigate conversion of nitrogen and COD in enriched paddy soil by nitrification coupled with anammox process in a dual chamber bioelectrochemical system. The paddy soil was enriched for denitrification coupled with anammox by microbial consortia and was acclimatized in the cathodic chamber of microbial fuel cells(MFCs). The bioelectrochemical systems were treated with different ammonium concentrations in the cathodic chamber: the MFC with low concentration ammonium...     

Characteristics of greenhouse gas emission in three full-scale wastewater treatment processes

Three full-scale wastewater treatment processes, Orbal oxidation ditch, anoxic/anaerobic/aerobic （reversed A^2O） and anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic （A^2O）, were selected to investigate the emission characteristics of greenhouse gases （GHG）, including carbon dioxide （CO2）, methane （CH4） and nitrous oxide （N2O）. Results showed that although the processes were different, the units presenting high GHG emission fluxes were remarkably similar, namely the highest CO2 and N2O emission fluxes occurred in the aerobic areas, and the highest CH4 emission fluxes occurred in the grit tanks. The GHG emission amount of each unit can be calculated from its area and GHG emission flux. The calculation results revealed that the maximum emission amounts of CO2, CH4 and N2O in the three wastewater treatment processes appeared in the aerobic areas in all cases. Theoretically, CH4 should be produced in anaerobic conditions, rather than aerobic conditions. However, results in this study showed that the CH4 emission fluxes in the forepart of the aerobic area were distinctly higher than in the anaerobic area. The situation for N2O was similar to that of CH4： the N2O emission flux in the aerobic area was also higher than that in the anoxic area. Through analysis of the GHG mass balance, it was found that the flow of dissolved GHG in the wastewater treatment processes and aerators may be the main reason for this phenomenon. Based on the monitoring and calculation results, GHG emission factors for the three wastewater treatment processes were determined. The A^2O process had the highest CO2 emission factor of 319.3 g CO2/kg CODremoved, and the highest CH4 and N2O emission factors of 3.3 g CH4/kg CODremoved and 3.6 g N2O/kg TNremoved were observed in the Orbal oxidation ditch process.     

Topsoil organic carbon mineralization and CO2 evolution of three paddy soils from South China and the temperature dependence

Carbon mineralization and its response to climatic warming have been receiving global attention for the last decade. Although the virtual influence of temperature effect is still in great debate, little is known on the mineralization of organic carbon （SOC） of paddy soils of China under warming. SOC mineralization of three major types of China＇s paddy soils is studied through laboratory incubation for 114 d under soil moisture regime of 70% water holding capacity at 20℃ and 25℃ respectively. The carbon that mineralized as CO2 evolved was measured every day in the first 32 d and every two days in the following days. Carbon mineralized during the 114 d incubation ranged from 3.51 to 9.22 mg CO2-C/gC at 20℃ and from 4.24 to 11.35 mg CO2-C/gC at 25℃ respectively; and a mineralizable C pool in the range of 0.24 to 0.59 gC/kg, varying with different soils. The whole course of C mineralization in the 114 d incubation could be divided into three stages of varying rates, representing the three subpools of the total mineralizable C： very actively mineralized C at 1-23 d, actively tnineralized C at 24--74 d and a slowly mineralized pool with low and more or less stabilized C mineralization rate at 75-114 d. The calculated Q10 values ranged from 1.0 to 2.4, varying with the soil types and N status. Neither the total SOC pool nor the labile C pool could account for the total mineralization potential of the soils studied, despite a well correlation of labile C with the shortly and actively mineralized C, which were shown in sensitive response to soil warming. However, the portion of microbial C pool and the soil C/N ratio controlled the C mineralization and the temperature dependence. Therefore, C sequestration may not result in an increase of C mineralization proportionally. The relative control of C bioavailability and microbial metabolic activity on C mineralization with respect to stabilization of sequestered C in the paddy soils of China is to be further studied.     

Differential responses of short-term soil respiration dynamics to the experimental addition of nitrogen and water in the temperate semi-arid steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

We examined the effects of simulated rainfall and increasing N supply of different levels on CO2 pulse emission from typical Inner Mongolian steppe soil using the static opaque chamber technique, respectively in a dry June and a rainy August. The treatments included NH4NO3 additions at rates of 0, 5, 10, and 20 g N/（m2.year） with or without water. Immediately after the experimental simulated rainfall events, the CO2 effluxes in the watering plots without N addition （WCK） increased greatly and reached the maximum value at 2 hr. However, the efflux level reverted to the background level within 48 hr. The cumulative CO2 effluxes in the soil ranged from 5.60 to 6.49 g C/m2 over 48 hr after a single water application, thus showing an increase of approximately 148.64% and 48.36% in the efftuxes during both observation periods. By contrast, the addition of different N levels without water addition did not result in a significant change in soil respiration in the short term. Two-way ANOVA showed that the effects of the interaction between water and N addition were insignificant in short-term soil COz efftuxes in the soil. The cumulative soil CO2 fluxes of different treatments over 48 hr accounted for approximately 5.34% to 6.91% and 2.36% to 2.93% of annual C emission in both experimental periods. These results stress the need for improving the sampling frequency after rainfall in future studies to ensure more accurate evaluation of the grassland C emission contribution.     

Soil resource availability impacts microbial response to organic carbon and inorganic nitrogen inputs

Impacts of newly added organic carbon （C） and inorganic nitrogen （N） on the microbial utilization of soil organic matter are important in determining the future C balance of terrestrial ecosystems. We examined microbial responses to cellulose and ammonium nitrate additions in three soils with very different C and N availability. These soils included an organic soil（ 14.2% total organic C, with extremely high extractable N and low labile C）, a forest soi1（4.7% total organic C, with high labile C and extremely low extractable N）, and a grassland soil（1.6% total organic C, with low extractable N and labile C）. While cellulose addition alone significantly enhanced microbial respiration and biomass C and N in the organic and grassland soils, it accelerated only the microbial respiration in the highly-N limited forest soil. These results indicated that when N was not limited, C addition enhanced soil respiration by stimulating both microbial growth and their metabolic activity, New C inputs lead to elevated C release in all three soils, and the magnitude of the enhancement was higher in the organic and grassland soils than the forest soil. The addition of cellulose plus N to the forest and grassland soils initially increased the microbial biomass and respiration rates, but decreased the rates as time progressed. Compared to cellulose addition alone, cellulose plus N additions increased the total C-released in the grassland soil, but not in the forest soil. The enhancement of total C- released induced by C and N addition was less than 50% of the added-C in the forest soil after 96 d of incubation, in contrast to 87.5% and 89.0% in the organic and grassland soils. These results indicate that indigenous soil C and N availability substantially impacts the allocation of organic C for microbial biomass growth and/or respiration, potentially regulating the turnover rates of the new organic C inputs.     

Adsorption–desorption behavior of atrazine on agricultural soils in China

Adsorption and desorption are important processes that affect atrazine transport,transformation,and bioavailability in soils.In this study,the adsorption–desorption characteristics of atrazine in three soils(laterite,paddy soil and alluvial soil) were evaluated using the batch equilibrium method.The results showed that the kinetics of atrazine in soils was completed in two steps:a"fast" adsorption and a "slow" adsorption and could be well described by pseudo-second-order model.In addition,the adsorption equilibrium isotherms were nonlinear and were well fitted by Freundlich and Langmuir models.It was found that the adsorption data on laterite,and paddy soil were better fitted by the Freundlich model;as for alluvial soil,the Langmuir model described it better.The maximum atrazine sorption capacities ranked as follows:paddy soil alluvial soil laterite.Results of thermodynamic calculations indicated that atrazine adsorption on three tested soils was spontaneous and endothermic.The desorption data showed that negative hysteresis occurred.Furthermore,lower solution pH value was conducive to the adsorption of atrazine in soils.The atrazine adsorption in these three tested soils was controlled by physical adsorption,including partition and surface adsorption.At lower equilibrium concentration,the atrazine adsorption process in soils was dominated by surface adsorption;while with the increase of equilibrium concentration,partition was predominant.     

Monitoring impact of mefenacet treatment on soil microbial communities by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting and conventional testing procedures

The effect of acetanilide herbicide mefenacet on soil microbial communities was studied using paddy soil samples with different short-term treatments. The culturable bacteria （plate counts）, dehydrogenase activity and changes in community structure （denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） analysis） were used for biological community assessments. Mefenacet was a significant stimulus to cultural aerobic bacteria and dehydrogenase activity while Sphingobacterium multivorum Y1, a bacterium efficiently degrading the mefenacet, only induced the increasing colony-forming unit （CFU） of bacteria but little effect on dehydrogenase activity during the whole experiment. The degree of similarity between the 16S rDNA profiles of the communities was quantified by numerically analyzing the DGGE band patterns. Similarity dendrograms showed that the microbial community structures of the mefenacet-treated and non-treated soils were not significantly different. But supplement of S. multivorum Y1 could increase the diversity of the microbial community in the mefenacet-polluted paddy soil. This work is a new attempt to apply the S. multivorum Y1 for remediation of the mefenacet-polluted environments.     

Adsorption and desorption of Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) in paddy soils cultivated for various years in the subtropical China

The adsorption and desorption of Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) on upland red soil,and paddy soils which were originated from the upland soil and cultivated for 8,15,35 and 85 years,were investigated using the batch method.The study showed that the organic matter content and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils are important factors controlling the adsorption and desorption of Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ).The 15-Year paddy soil had the highest adsorption capacity for Pb(Ⅱ),followed by the 35-Year paddy soil.Both the 35-Year paddy soil and 15-Year paddy soil adsorbed more Cu(Ⅱ) than the upland soil and other paddy soils.The 15-Year paddy soils exhibited the highest desorption percentage for both Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ).These results are consistent with the trend for the CEC of the soils tested.The high soil CEC contributes not only to the adsorption of Cu(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) but also to the electrostatic adsorption of the two heavy metals by the soils.Lower desorption percentages for Cu(Ⅱ) (36.7% to 42.2%) and Pb(Ⅱ) (50.4% to 57.9%) were observed for the 85-Year paddy soil.The highest content of organic matter in the soil was responsible for the low desorption percentages for the two metals because the formation of the complexes between the organic matter and the metals could increase the stability of the heavy metals in the soils.     

Nitrous oxide emissions from black soils with different pH

N₂O fluxes as a function of incubation time from soil with different available N contents and pH were determined. Cumulative carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions were measured to indicate soil respiration. A 144-hr incubation experiment was conducted in a slightly acidic agricultural soil (pH_H2O 5.33) after the pH was adjusted to four different values (3.65, 5.00, 6.90 and 8.55). The experiments consisted of a control without added N, and with NH₄⁺-N and NO₃^--N fertilization. The results showed that soil pH contributed significantly to N₂O flux from the soils. There were higher N₂O emissions in the period 0-12 hr in the four pH treatments, especially those enhanced with N-fertilization. The cumulative N₂O-N emission reached a maximum at pH 8.55 and was stimulated by NO₃^--N fertilization (70.4 μg/kg). The minimum emissions appeared at pH 3.65 and were not stimulated by NO₃^--N or NH₄⁺-N fertilization. Soil respiration increased significantly due to N-fertilization. Soil respiration increased positively with soil pH (R² = 0.98, P < 0.01). The lowest CO₂-C emission (30.2 mg/kg) was presented in pH 3.65 soils without N-fertilization. The highest CO₂-C emissions appeared in the pH 8.55 soils for NH₄⁺-N fertilization (199 mg/kg). These findings suggested that N₂O emissions and soil respiration were significantly influenced by low pH, which strongly inhibits soil microbial nitrification and denitrification activities. The content of NO₃^--N in soil significantly and positively affected the N₂O emissions through denitrification.     

Experimental study of NO2 reduction in N2/Ar and O2/Ar mixtures by pulsed corona discharge

Non-thermal plasma technology has been regarded as a promising alternative technology for NOx removal. The understanding of NO2 reduction characteristics is extremely important since NO2 reduction could lower the total NO oxidation rate in the plasma atmosphere. In this study, NO2 reduction was experimentally investigated using a non-thermal plasma reactor driven by a pulsed power supply for different simulated gas compositions and operating parameters. The NO2 reduction was promoted by increasing the specific energy density （SED）, and the highest conversion rates were 33.7%, 42.1% and 25.7% for Ar, N2/Ar and O2/Ar, respectively. For a given SED, the NO2 conversion rate had the order N2/Ar 〉 Ar 〉 02/Ar. The highest energy yield of 3.31 g/kWh was obtained in N2/Ar plasma and decreased with increasing SED; the same trends were also found in the other two gas compositions. The conversion rate decreased with increasing initial NO2 concentration. Furthermore, the presence of N2 or O2 led to different reaction pathways for NO2 conversion due to the formation of different dominating reactive radicals.     

Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from four tundra ecotopes in Ny-Ålesund of the High Arctic

During the summers of 2008 and 2009, net methane（CH4） and nitrous oxide（N2O） fluxes were investigated from 4 tundra ecotopes： normal lowland tundra（LT）, bird sanctuary tundra（BT）, the tundra in an abandoned coal mine（CT） and the tundra in scientific bases（ST） in Ny-Alesund of the High Arctic. Tundra soils in CT（184.5 ± 40.0 μg CH4/（m2·hr）） and ST（367.6 ± 92.3 μg CH4/（m2·hr）） showed high CH4 emissions due to the effects of human activities, whereas high CH4 uptake or low emission occurred in the soils of LT and BT.The lowland tundra soils（mean,-4.4-4.3 μg N2O/（m2·hr）） were weak N2 O sources and even sinks. Bird activity increased N2 O emissions from BT with the mean flux of7.9 μg N2O/（m2·hr）. The mean N2 O fluxes from CT（45.4 ± 10.2 μg N2O/（m2·hr）） and ST（78.8 ± 18.5 μg N2O/（m2·hr）） were one order of magnitude higher than those from LT and BT, indicating that human activities significantly increased N2 O emissions from tundra soils. Soil total carbon and water regime were important factors affecting CH4 fluxes from tundra soils. The N2 O fluxes showed a significant positive correlation with ammonia nitrogen（NH4＋-N） contents（r = 0.66, p 〈 0.001） at all the observation sites, indicating that ammonia nitrogen（NH4＋-N） content acted as a strong predictor for N2 O emissions from tundra soils. The CH4 and N2O fluxes did not correspond to the temperature variations of soil at 0-15 cm depths.Overall our results implied that human activities might have greater effects on soil CH4 and N2O emissions than current climate warming in Ny-Alesund, High Arctic.     

Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on the water quality in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area during and after its construction

A survey concerning the concentration of the nutrients in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area was carried out. This paper presents the parameters(NO3^- -N, NO2^- -N, KjeldahI-N, non-ionic ammonia, P-PO4 and TP)determined at 16 sampling sites from 1997 to 1999. The dominant soluble nitrogen form was NO3^- -N followed by KjeldahI-N, NO2^- -N and non-ionic ammonia. Mean values of NO3^- -N, NO2^- -N, Kjeldahl-N and non-ionic ammonia ranged from 0.50 to 2.37 mg/L, 0.022 to 0.084 mg/L, 0.33 to 0.99 mg/L and 0.007 to 0.092 mg/L respectively.Mean values of P-PO4 at most sampling sites were higher than 0.1 mg/L for subject to eutrophication. The major factors influencing the concentrations of N and P might be agricultural runoff, municipal and industrial effluents. In addition, 6 kinds of soil were sampled at the area where would inundated after the dam completed. Two approaches were adopted to simulate the N and P release from the inundated soils. The results showed that the soils would release nitrogen and phosphorus to the overlying water when the soils were inundated. The characteristics of soil affected the equilibrium concentrations of N and P between the soil and the overlying water.     

Release behavior of copper and zinc from sandy soils

The concentrations and chemical forms of copper(Cu) and zinc(Zn) in surface soils directly influence the movement of Cu and Zn. In this study, thirteen sandy soil samples with a wide range of total Cu and Zn concentrations were collected for evaluating the relationships between Cu and Zn release and extraction time, ratio of soil to water, pH and electro;yte types. The results indicated that Cu released in batch extraction that represents long-term leaching was mainly from exchangeable, and carbonate bound Cu fractions, and Zn released in the batch extraction was mainly from its carbonate bound fraction. However, the Cu and Zn leached from the soils using the column leaching that represents short-term leaching were mainly from their exchangeable fractions. Soil column leaching at different pH values indicated that the amounts of leached Zn and Cu were greatly affected by pH. The Cu and Zn release experiments with varying extraction times and ratio of soil to water suggest that long-term water-logging in the soils after rain may increase contact time of the soils with water and the release of Cu and Zn to water from the soils, and total amounts of Cu or Zn released from the soils increase, but the Cu or Zn concentration in the surface runoff decrease with increasing rainfall intensity. The increased Ca concentration in soil solution increased stability of organic matter-mineral complexes and might decrease the dissolution of organic matter, and thus decreased the release of Cu-binding component of organic matter. However, high concentration of Na in the soil solution increased the dispersion of the organic matter-mineral complexes and increased dissolution of organic matter and the release of Cu from the soils.