Organic carbon isotope and pollen evidence for mangrove development and response to human activity in Guangxi(Southwest China) over the last 140 years

Mangrove degradation must reduce carbon sequestration in recent years, thereby aggravating global warming.Thus, short-term impacts of human activity on mangrove ecosystems are cause for concern from local governments and scientists. Mangroves sediments can provide detailed records of mangrove species variation in the last one hundred years, based on detailed 210 Pb data. The study traced the history of mangrove development and its response to environmental change over the last 140 years in two mangrove swamps of Guangxi, Southwest China. Average sedimentation rates were calculated to be 0.48 cm/a and 0.56 cm/a in the Yingluo Bay and the Maowei Sea, respectively. Chemical indicators（δ13Corg and C：N） were utilized to trace the contribution of mangrove-derived organic matter（MOM） using a ternary mixing model. Simultaneous use of mangrove pollen can help to supplement some of these limitations in diagenetic/overlap of isotopic signatures. We found that vertical distribution of MOM was consistent with mangrove pollen, which could provide similar information for tracing mangrove ecosystems. Therefore, mangrove development was reconstructed and divided into three stages： flourishing, degradation and re-flourishing/re-degradation period. The significant degradation, found in the period of 1968–1998 and 1907–2007 in the Yingluo Bay and the Maowei Sea, respectively, corresponding to a rapid increase of reclamation area and seawall length, rather than climate change as recorded in the region.

Effect of fire disturbance on active organic carbon of Larix gmelinii forest soil in Northeastern China

Active organic carbon in soil has high biological activity and plays an important role in forest soil ecosystem structure and function. Fire is an important disturbance factor in many forest ecosystems and occurs frequently over forested soils. However, little is known about its impact on soil active organic carbon (SAOC), which is important to the global carbon cycle. To investigate this issue, we studied the active organic carbon in soils in the Larix gmelinii forests of the Da Xing'an Mountains (Greater Xing'an Mountains) in Northeastern China, which had been burned by high-intensity wildfire in two different years (2002 and 2008). Soil samples were collected monthly during the 2011 growing season from over 12 sample plots in burned and unburned soils and then analyzed to examine the dynamics of SAOC. Our results showed that active organic carbon content changed greatly after fire disturbance in relation to the amount of time elapsed since the fire. There were significant differences in microbial biomass carbon, dissolved organic carbon, light fraction organic carbon, particulate organic carbon between burned and unburned sample plots in 2002 and 2008 (p < 0.05). The correlations between active organic carbon and environmental factors such as water content, pH value and temperature of soils, and correlations between each carbon component changed after fire disturbance, also in relation to time since the fire. The seasonal dynamics of SAOC in all of the sample plots changed after fire disturbance; peak values appeared during the growing season. In plots burned in 2002 and 2008, the magnitude and occurrence time of peak values differed. Our findings provide basic data regarding the impact of fire disturbance on boreal forest soil-carbon cycling, carbon-balance mechanisms, and carbon contributions of forest ecosystem after wildfire disturbance.

Microbial community structure and functional metabolic diversity are associated with organic carbon availability in an agricultural soil

Exploration of soil environmental characteristics governing soil microbial community structure and activity may improve our understanding of biogeochemical processes and soil quality. The impact of soil environmental characteristics especially organic carbon availability after 15-yr different organic and inorganic fertilizer inputs on soil bacterial community structure and functional metabolic diversity of soil microbial communities were evaluated in a 15-yr fertilizer experiment in Changping County, Beijing, China. The experiment was a wheat-maize rotation system which was established in 1991 including four different fertilizer treatments. These treatments included： a non-amended control（CK）, a commonly used application rate of inorganic fertilizer treatment（NPK）; a commonly used application rate of inorganic fertilizer with swine manure incorporated treatment（NPKM）, and a commonly used application rate of inorganic fertilizer with maize straw incorporated treatment（NPKS）. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis（DGGE） of the 16 S r RNA gene was used to determine the bacterial community structure and single carbon source utilization profiles were determined to characterize the microbial community functional metabolic diversity of different fertilizer treatments using Biolog Eco plates. The results indicated that long-term fertilized treatments significantly increased soil bacterial community structure compared to CK. The use of inorganic fertilizer with organic amendments incorporated for long term（NPKM, NPKS） significantly promoted soil bacterial structure than the application of inorganic fertilizer only（NPK）, and NPKM treatment was the most important driver for increases in the soil microbial community richness（S） and structural diversity（H）. Overall utilization of carbon sources by soil microbial communities（average well color development, AWCD） and microbial substrate utilization diversity and evenness indices（H＇ and E） indicated that long-term inorganic fertilizer with organic amendments incorporated（NPKM, NPKS） could significantly stimulate soil microbial metabolic activity and functional diversity relative to CK, while no differences of them were found between NPKS and NPK treatments. Principal component analysis（PCA） based on carbon source utilization profiles also showed significant separation of soil microbial community under long-term fertilization regimes and NPKM treatment was significantly separated from the other three treatments primarily according to the higher microbial utilization of carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, polymers, phenolic compounds, and amino acid, while higher utilization of amines/amides differed soil microbial community in NPKS treatment from those in the other three treatments. Redundancy analysis（RDA） indicated that soil organic carbon（SOC） availability, especially soil microbial biomass carbon（Cmic） and Cmic/SOC ratio are the key factors of soil environmental characteristics contributing to the increase of both soil microbial community structure and functional metabolic diversity in the long-term fertilization trial. Our results showed that long-term inorganic fertilizer and swine manure application could significantly improve soil bacterial community structure and soil microbial metabolic activity through the increases in SOC availability, which could provide insights into the sustainable management of China＇s soil resource.

Impacts of Rice Field Winter Planting on Soil Organic Carbon and Carbon Management Index

To tackle with the problem of prevailing farmland abandonment in winter,5 treatments includes Chinese milk vetch-double cropping rice(CRR),rape-double cropping rice(RRR),garlic-double cropping rice(GRR),winter crop multiple cropping rotation(ROT),winter fallow control(WRR)were set up.By measuring soil total organic carbon,active organic carbon and its components and calculating the soil carbon pool management index in 0~15 cm and 15~30 cm soil layers in the early and late rice ripening stage.The effects of different winter planting patterns on the changes of soil organic carbon and carbon pool management index were discussed.In order to provide theoretical basis for the optimization and adjustment of winter planting pattern of double cropping rice field in the middle reaches of Yangtze River.The results showed that soil total organic carbon,active organic carbon and its components in different winter cropping patterns were increased,and ROT and CRR treatments were more beneficial to the accumulation of soil total organic carbon,active organic carbon and its components as well as the improvement of soil carbon pool management index,which should be preferred in the adjustment of cropping patterns.

Long-term agricultural activity affects anthropogenic soil on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Anthropogenic activities largely influence the soil quality of agricultural fields and the composition of soil. Samples of typical anthropogenic Loutu soil in the Guanzhong area of the Loess Plateau, Shaanxi Province, China were collected and measured for soil compaction, bulk density, total organic carbon（TOC）, active organic carbon（AOC）, and soil enzyme activities to investigate spatial variations in soil quality. The results indicate that soil compaction and bulk density increased with increasing distance from the farm village, whereas soil TOC, AOC, and soil enzyme activities firstly increased and subsequently decreased with increasing distance from the farm village. All of the tested parameters presented clear concentric distribution. Vertically, soil compaction and bulk density in the topsoil were lower than those in the subsoil, but all other tested parameters in the topsoil were significantly higher than those in the subsoil. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between organic carbon content and enzyme activities, confirming that the spatial distribution of Loutu soil characteristics has been affected by long-term anthropogenic activities to some extent. The results of this study imply that the use of farmyard manure and appropriate deep plowing are important and effective ways to maintain and improve soil quality.

Reconstructing Environmental Changes of a Coastal Lagoon with Coral Reefs in Southeastern Hainan Island

Coastal lagoons with small catchment basins are highly sensitive to natural processes and anthropogenic activities. To figure out the environmental changes of a coastal lagoon and its contribution to carbon burial, two sediment cores were collected in Xincun Lagoon, southeastern Hainan Island and (210) ~Pb activities, grain size parameters, total organic carbon(TOC), total nitrogen(TN), total inorganic carbon(TIC) and stable carbon isotopes(δ^(13)C) were measured. The results show that in 1770–1815, the decreasing water exchange capacity with outer open water, probably caused by the shifting and narrowing of the tidal inlet, not only diminished the currents and fined the sediments in the lagoon, but also reduced the organic matter of marine sources. From 1815 to 1950, the sedimentary environment of Xincun Lagoon was frequently influenced by storm events. These extreme events resulted in the high fluctuation of sediment grain size and sorting, as well as the great variation in contributions of terrestrial(higher plants, soils) and marine sources(phytoplankton, algae, seagrass). The extremely high content of TIC, compared to TOC before 1950 could be attributed to the large-scale coverage of coral reefs. However, with the boost of seawater aquaculture activities after 1970, the health growth of coral species was severely threatened, and corresponding production and inorganic carbon burial flux reduced. The apparent enhanced inorganic carbon burial rate after 1990 might result from the concomitant carbonate debris produced by seawater aquaculture. This result is important for local government long-term coastal management and environmental planning.

Removal of 2-ClBP from soil–water system using activated carbon supported nanoscale zerovalent iron

We explored the feasibility and removal mechanism of removing 2-chlorobiphenyl（2-Cl BP）from soil–water system using granular activated carbon（GAC） impregnated with nanoscale zerovalent iron（reactive activated carbon or RAC）.The RAC samples were successfully synthesized by the liquid precipitation method.The mesoporous GAC based RAC with low iron content（1.32%） exhibited higher 2-Cl BP removal efficiency（54.6%） in the water phase.The result of Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic model implied that the different molecular structures between 2-Cl BP and trichloroethylene（TCE） resulted in more difference in dechlorination reaction rates on RAC than adsorption capacities.Compared to removing2-Cl BP in the water phase,RAC removed the 2-Cl BP more slowly in the soil phase due to the significant external mass transfer resistance.However,in the soil phase,a better removal capacity of RAC was observed than its base GAC because the chemical dechlorination played a more important role in total removal process for 2-Cl BP.This important result verified the effectiveness of RAC for removing 2-Cl BP in the soil phase.Although reducing the total RAC removal rate of 2-Cl BP,soil organic matter（SOM）,especially the soft carbon,also served as an electron transfer medium to promote the dechlorination of 2-Cl BP in the long term.

Comparison of different combined treatment processes to address the source water with high concentration of natural organic matter during snowmelt period

The source water in one forest region of the Northeast China had very high natural organic matter（NOM） concentration and heavy color during snowmelt period. The efficiency of five combined treatment processes was compared to address the high concentration of NOM and the mechanisms were also analyzed. Conventional treatment can hardly remove dissolved organic carbon（DOC） in the source water. KMn O4pre-oxidization could improve the DOC removal to 22.0%. Post activated carbon adsorption improved the DOC removal of conventional treatment to 28.8%. The non-sufficient NOM removal could be attributed to the dominance of large molecular weight organic matters in raw water, which cannot be adsorbed by the micropore upon activated carbon. O3＋ activated carbon treatment are another available technology for eliminating the color and UV254 in water. However, its performance of DOC removal was only 36.4%, which could not satisfy the requirement for organic matter. The limited ozone dosage is not sufficient to mineralize the high concentration of NOM. Magnetic ion-exchange resin combined with conventional treatment could remove 96.2%of color, 96.0% of UV254 and 87.1% of DOC, enabling effluents to meet the drinking water quality standard. The high removal efficiency could be explained by the negative charge on the surface of NOM which benefits the static adsorption of NOM on the anion exchange resin. The results indicated that magnetic ion-exchange resin combined with conventional treatment is the best available technology to remove high concentration of NOM.