Abstract
Purpose
Salinity and vegetation can significantly affect the productions and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in wetland soils. We aim to investigate the effect of salinity on the productions and emissions of GHGs in marsh soils during the decomposition of wetland plants under different scenarios.
Methods
Soils and wetland plants collected from a freshwater marsh (FM) and a saline marsh (SM) in the Louisiana Barataria Basin estuary were incubated under different levels of salinity treatment for 180 days. Gas and soil samples were periodically collected and analyzed for CO2, CH4, and N2O and for TN, TC, and DOC contents, respectively.
Results
CH4 and CO2 production rates reached maximums on day 30 as the decomposition processed. The increment of CH4 and CO2 production rates in SM soils was greater than in FM soils. The CH4 and CO2 production rates were generally more significantly correlated with DOC than with TC. Reducing salinity inhibited the productions and emissions of CO2 and N2O but significantly promoted those of CH4 in SM soils, while in FM soils, increasing salinity significantly decreased the CO2 production and emission but had no significant effect on CH4 and N2O. The CO2-equivalent cumulative emissions increased by 41% as the salinity decreased by 17.7% in saline marsh, and the percent contribution of CH4 emissions to CO2-equivalent cumulative emissions increased from 15 to 47%.
Conclusion
Our results suggested the potential that the diversion of Mississippi River water to the wetlands might promote the production and emission of CH4 in saline marsh.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Meng Wang, Yili Meng, Baoyue Zhou, Negar Dehghani Tafti, Scott M Pensky, and Zhuo Wei for their help with sample collection, preparation, and analysis.
Funding
This research was, in part, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.41401563, 41977322), the Liaocheng University Research Foundation (Grant No. 318011909, 318012019), the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)-Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) (Grant #2009–65102-05975), and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project (Grant #10138880).
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JZ and JJW designed the research. JZ, RX, and HD completed the experiment and sample analysis. JZ wrote and edited the original draft of the paper. JJW and RDD revised the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhang, J., Wang, J.J., Xiao, R. et al. Effect of salinity on greenhouse gas production and emission in marsh soils during the decomposition of wetland plants. J Soils Sediments 23, 131–144 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03334-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03334-5