Response of gaseous carbon emissions to low-level salinity increase in tidal marsh ecosystem of the Min River estuary,southeastern China

Although estuarine tidal marshes are important contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the relationship between carbon dioxide（CO2）, methane（CH4）emission, and environmental factors, with respect to estuarine marshes, has not been clarified thoroughly. This study investigated the crucial factors controlling the emission of CO2 and CH4from a freshwater marsh and a brackish marsh located in a subtropical estuary in southeastern China, as well as their magnitude. The duration of the study period was November 2013 to October 2014. Relevant to both the field and incubation experiments, the CO2 and CH4emissions from the two marshes showed pronounced seasonal variations. The CO2 and CH4emissions from both marshes demonstrated significant positive correlations with the air/soil temperature（p 〈 0.01）, but negative correlations with the soil electrical conductivity and the pore water/tide water Cl-and SO42- （p 〈 0.01）. The results indicate no significant difference in the CO2 emissions between the freshwater and brackish marshes in the subtropical estuary, whereas there was a difference in the CH4 emissions between the two sites（p 〈 0.01）. Although future sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion could reduce the CH4 emissions from the estuarine freshwater marshes, these factors had little effect on the CO2 emissions with respect to an increase in salinity of less than 5‰. The findings of this study could have important implications for estimating the global warming contributions of estuarine marshes along differing salinity gradients.

Effect of drainage on CO_2, CH_4, and N_2O fluxes from aquaculture ponds during winter in a subtropical estuary of China

Aquaculture ponds are dominant features of the landscape in the coastal zone of China.Generally,aquaculture ponds are drained during the non-culture period in winter.However,the effects of such drainage on the production and flux of greenhouse gases（GHGs）from aquaculture ponds are largely unknown.In the present study,field-based research was performed to compare the GHG fluxes between one drained pond（DP,with a water depth of 0.05 m）and one undrained pond（UDP,with a water depth of 1.16 m）during one winter in the Min River estuary of southeast China.Over the entire study period,the mean CO2flux in the DP was（0.75±0.12）mmol/（m^2·hr）,which was significantly higher than that in the UDP of（-0.49±0.09）mmol/（m^2·hr）（p0.01）.This indicates that drainage drastically transforms aquaculture ponds from a net sink to a net source of CO2in winter.Mean CH4and N2O emissions were significantly higher in the DP compared to those in the UDP（CH4=（0.66±0.31）vs.（0.07±0.06）mmol/（m^2·hr）and N2O=（19.54±2.08）vs.（0.01±0.04）μmol/（m^2·hr））（p〈0.01）,suggesting that drainage would also significantly enhance CH4and N2O emissions.Changes in environmental variables（including sediment temperature,p H,salinity,redox status,and water depth）contributed significantly to the enhanced GHG emissions following pond drainage.Furthermore,analysis of the sustained-flux global warming and cooling potentials indicated that the combined global warming potentials of the GHG fluxes were significantly higher in the DP than in the UDP（p〈0.01）,with values of739.18 and 26.46 mg CO2-eq/（m^2·hr）,respectively.Our findings suggested that drainage of aquaculture ponds can increase the emissions of potent GHGs from the coastal zone of China to the atmosphere during winter,further aggravating the problem of global warming.