Mitigated N2O emissions from submerged-plant-covered aquatic ecosystems on the Changjiang River Delta

Abstract

Submerged plants affect nitrogen cycling in aquatic ecosystems. However, whether and how submerged plants change nitrous oxide (N2O) production mechanism and emissions flux remains controversial. Current research primarily focuses on the feedback from N2O release to variation of substrate level and microbial communities. It is deficient in connecting the relative contribution of individual N2O production processes (i.e., the N2O partition). Here, we attempted to offer a comprehensive understanding of the N2O mitigation mechanism in aquatic ecosystems on the Changjiang River Delta according to stable isotopic techniques, metagenome-assembly genome analysis, and statistical analysis. We found that the submerged plant reduced 45 % of N2O emissions by slowing down the dissolved inorganic nitrogen conversion velocity to N2O in sediment (Vf-[DIN]sed). It was attributed to changing the N2O partition and suppressing the potential capacity of net N2O production (i.e., nor/nosZ). The dominated production processes showed a shift with increasing excess N2O. Meanwhile, distinct shift thresholds of planted and unplanted habitats reflected different mechanisms of stimulated N2O production. The hotspot zone of N2O production corresponded to high nor/nosZ and unsaturated oxygen (O2) in unplanted habitat. In contrast, planted habitat hotspot has lower nor/nosZ and supersaturated O2. O2 from photosynthesis critically impacted the activities of N2O producers and consumers. In summary, the presence of submerged plants is beneficial to mitigate N2O emissions from aquatic ecosystems.