Spatial Distribution and Environmental Determinants of Denitrification Enzyme Activity in Reed-Dominated Raised Fields

Denitrification is an important process of nitrogen removal in lake ecosystems.However,the importance of denitrification across the entire soil-depth gradients including subsurface layers remains poorly understood.This study aims to determine the spatial pattern of soil denitrification enzyme activity(DEA) and its environmental determinants across the entire soil depth gradients in the raised fields in Baiyang Lake,North China.In two different zones of the raised fields(i.e.,water boundary vs.main body of the raised fields),the soil samples from 1.0 m to 1.1 m depth were collected,and the DEA and following environmental determinants were quantified:soil moisture,p H,total nitrogen(TN),ammonia nitrogen(NH4+-N),nitrate nitrogen(NO3–-N),total organic carbon(TOC),and rhizome biomass of Phragmites australis.The results showed that the soil DEA and environmental factors had a striking zonal distribution across the entire soil depth gradients.The soil DEA reached two peak values in the upper and middle soil layers,indicating that denitrification are important in both topsoil and subsurface of the raised fields.The correlation analysis showed that the DEA is negatively correlated with the soil depth(p < 0.05).However,this phenomenon did not occur in the distance to the water edge,except in the upper layers(from 0.2 m to 0.7 m) of the boundary zone of the raised fields.In the main body of the raised fields,the DEA level remained high;however,it showed no significant relationship with the distance to the water edge.The linear regression analysis showed significant positive correlation of the DEA with the soil TN,NO3–-N,NH4+-N,and TOC;whereas it showed negative correlation with soil p H.No significant correlations with soil moisture and temperature were observed.A positive correlation was also found between the DEA and rhizome biomass of P.australis.

Emergy assessment of three home courtyard agriculture production systems in Tibet Autonomous Region, China

Home courtyard agriculture is an important model of agricultural production on the Tibetan plateau. Be- cause of the sensitive and fragile plateau environment, it needs to have optimal performance characteristics, including high sustainability, low environmental pressure, and high economic benefit. Emergy analysis is a promising tool for evaluation of the environmental-economic performance of these production systems. In this study, emergy analysis was used to evaluate three courtyard agricultural production models： Raising Geese in Corn Fields （RGICF）, Con- ventional Corn Planting （CCP）, and Pea-Wheat Rotation （PWR）. The results showed that the RGICF model produced greater economic benefits, and had higher sustainability, lower environmental pressure, and higher product safety than the CCP and PWR models. The emergy yield ratio （EYR） and emergy self-support ratio （ESR） of RGICF were 0.66 and 0.11, respectively, lower than those of the CCP production model, and 0.99 and 0.08, respectively, lower than those of the PWR production model. The impact of RGICF （1.45） on the environment was lower than that of CCP （2.26） and PWR （2.46）. The emergy sustainable indices （ESIs） of RGICF were 1.07 and 1.02 times higher than those of CCP and PWR, respectively. With regard to the emergy index of product safety （EIPS）, RGICF had a higher safety index than those of CCP and PWR. Overall, our results suggest that the RGICF model is advantageous and provides higher environmental benefits than the CCP and PWR systems.