Effects of biochar application on nitrogen transformation and N2O emission in a coastal saline-alkali soil.

The application of biochar can improve soil fertility and benefit sustainable agricultural development and carbon neutrality simultaneously. To better understand the effects of biochar addition on nitrogen transformation and N2O emission in a coastal saline-alkali soil and its potential mechanisms, we conducted a 60-day laboratory incubation experiment with six treatments, i.e., ammonium sulfate (N 150 mg·kg-1), ammonium sulfate + 0.4% (weight/weight) biochar, ammonium sulfate + 0.6% biochar, ammonium sulfate + 0.8% biochar, ammonium sulfate + 1.6% biochar, and ammonium sulfate + 0.2% biochar and 0.2% organic fertilizer (based on equivalent N basis). The results showed that soil nitrogen transformation was mainly affected by biochar addition at the early stage of incubation. Biochar addition significantly increased the contents of nitrate and ammonium. Biochar addition significantly increased soil net nitrification rate, but the magnitude of such increases decreased with increasing biochar addition level. Similar temporal change patterns of N2O emissions were observed in all treatments, and the N2O emissions mainly occurred in the first 30 days of incubation. Compared with the CK, biochar addition significantly reduced the cumulative N2O emission, and the decrement increased with increasing biochar addition levels. In conclusion, the effects of biochar and nitrogen fertilizer addition on soil nitrogen transformation and N2O emission varied with the application rate. Biochar addition with a rate of 0.8% (W/W) increased soil inorganic nitrogen content and decreased soil N2O emission. It could provide theoretical basis and reference for the formulation of reasonable plans for the improvement and utilization of biochar in coastal saline-alkali soil.

[Spatial Distribution of Aerobic Bacteria, Sources and Risks of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Taihu Lake Sediments].

The release of nitrogen and phosphorus from sediments into lake water will exacerbate the eutrophication of lakes and endanger ecological safety and human health. Microorganisms are indispensable in nitrogen and phosphorus conversion, and accurate analysis of the distribution characteristics and sources of nitrogen and phosphorus in sediments as well as their relationship with microorganisms is an important prerequisite for lake eutrophication control. Taking Taihu Lake as the study area, 30 surface sediment samples were collected, and the grain size, pH, organic matter (OM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N), and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) along with some other index contents were measured and analyzed; accordingly, spatial distribution characteristics were analyzed. While using nutrient agar (NA), the number of aerobic bacteria (AB) was determined by plate counting in the medium. Combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation analysis, the spatial distribution characteristics and sources of sediments and AB in Taihu Lake were explored. The characteristics of sediment pollution in Taihu Lake were studied using the comprehensive pollution index and the organic pollution index methods. The results revealed that the average sediment indicators of the surface layer of Taihu Lake were as follows:AB was 9.25×104 CFU·g-1, average particle size (MZ) was 17.59 µm, pH was 7.62, ω(OM) was 15.05 g·kg-1, ω(DOC) was 71.60 mg·kg-1, ω(TP) was 598.13 mg·kg-1, ω(TN) was 1113.92 mg·kg-1, ω(NO3--N) was 3.22 mg·kg-1, and ω(DON) was 22.60 mg·kg-1. The comprehensive pollution index (FF) showed that 13% of the Taihu Lake was moderately polluted, while 87% was heavily polluted. Excluding the area in the center of the lake, the southern lake area, and some lakes in the western part of the East Taihu Lake, TN in the rest of the area was moderately and severely polluted. In addition to the heavy pollution of Zhushan Bay, the TP in Taihu Lake was generally at light and moderate pollution. The organic pollution index (OI) showed that the organic pollution of the sediments of Taihu Lake was relatively light, majorly caused by organic nitrogen (ON) pollution. DOC, DON, TN, and OM in Taihu Lake were primarily derived from the influence of aquatic plants, and TP And AB were primarily derived from the influence of the external input of rivers. This research will provide theoretical support for lake eutrophication treatment and also provide new ideas for further analysis of AB to remove nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from sediments.

[Elevational Distribution Characteristics of Soil Bacterial Community and Enzyme Activities in Mount Huangshan].

Mount Huangshan has a well-preserved ecosystem and obvious differences in vertical geography, which provide a natural laboratory for studying the altitudinal distribution patterns of soil microbial communities in a mid-subtropical forest ecosystem. The soil bacterial community structure and diversity of the samples collected every 100 m from 670 to 1870 m on the south slope of Mount Huangshan were examined using Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technology. The soil physicochemical properties and soil enzyme activities of the samples were also measured to explore the relationship between bacterial communities and soil properties as well as enzyme activities. The results showed that ① The contents of soil total nitrogen, available nitrogen, total potassium, and total organic carbon were significantly different across the altitudes (P<0.01) and generally increased as altitude increased. The soil sucrase activities across altitudes were significantly different (P<0.01), and generally increased as altitude increased. However, there was no significant difference in acid phosphatase and urease activities between different altitudes (P>0.05). ② The 12 elevational gradients were divided into three groups:low altitude (670-875 m), medium altitude (1080-1370 m), and high altitude (1460-1780 m). The OTUs in low altitude sites were greater than in high altitude sites but lower compared to medium altitude sites. However, the differences in OTUs across altitude sites were not significant. ③ The soil bacterial community diversity showed a unimodal pattern in a small range of altitudes from 875-1370 m, although no apparent trend was observed at the altitudes from 670-1780 m. ④ There were 7 dominant phyla and 15 dominant orders with a relative abundance of more than 3% in all soil samples. ⑤ Correlation heat map analysis between the top 15 bacterial phyla and soil physicochemical properties as well as enzyme activities showed that soil pH had the greatest effect on the differences in soil bacterial community structure across the different altitudes. Pearson correlation analysis and Partial Mantel test also showed that bacterial community α-diversity (P<0.01) and ß-diversity (Partial Mantel r=0.560, P=0.001) were mainly affected by soil pH. Consequently, soil pH was the key environmental factor determining the soil bacterial community structure and diversity across the different altitudes on Mount Huangshan.

[Effect of nonionic surfactant Tween80 and DOM on the behaviors of desorption of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil-water systems].

Batch experiments were conducted to study the effects of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nonionic surfactant (Tween80) on the desorption of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil-water systems. The results showed that DOM derived from pig manure and pig manure compost increased the desorption of phenanthrene and pyrene in soil-water systems, and the effect of pig manure compost DOM was better than that of pig manure DOM; with the increase of Tween80, the desorption rate of phenanthrene and pyrene also increased compared with the control, especially at high concentration of Tween80 (150 mg x L(-)). And at this concentration, the desorption rates were increased by 1.7 times for phenanthrene and 6.2 times for pyrene than that of the control. The combined effects of Tween80 and DOM on the desorption of phenanthrene and pyrene were influenced by the concentration of Tween80. When Tween80 at low concentration, the combined effects were not significant. Howerver, with 150 mg x L(-1) Tween80 in soil-water systems, the desorption rates of phenanthrene and pyrene were drastically higher than the sum of DOM and Tween80. The results also indicated that DOMs with high molecular-size fraction ( > 25 000 could attain a higher desorption of both phenanthrene and pyrene in soil-water systems than their lowmolecular-size counterpart (< 1000) under the same experiments conditions.

[Vertical fractionation of dissolved organic matter and its effect on the transport of Cu in Cu-contaminated soils].

The vertical fractionation of DOM and its effect on Cu transport in acidic and calcareous Cu-contaminated soils were studied in column experiments. The results showed that the polarities of DOM derived from green manure and pig manure were obviously decreased by 11.4% and 10.72%, respectively, when they were leached through soil columns, especially in the calcareous soil. Dissolved organic matter can increase the dissolution of copper from the two copper-contaminated soils, but the dissolution effect was influenced by the properties of DOM and soils. For example, the ability of DOM derived from green manure to increase copper dissolution was stronger than that of DOM from pig manure. On average, the amounts of copper into effluent leached by green manure DOM or pig manure DOM in the column packed with a calcareous soil are 4.37 and 3.03 times higher than that in the column packed with an acidic red soil, respectively. In addition, it was observed that Cu dissolution from soils facilitated by DOM was decreased due to microbial degradation of DOM in soils.

[Adsorption of dissolved organic matter in soil and dissolved organic matter effect on the copper precipitation in high pH range].

Batch experiments were performed to study the dissolved organic matter (DOM) derived from green manure and pig manure sorption in acidic and calcareous soils and the effect of DOM derived from green manure and pig manure compost on the precipitation of copper at different pH in solution. The results showed that there was a significant net release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil (33.58 mg x L(-1) for calcareous soil and 17.17 mg x L(-1) for acidic soil) when a DOC-free solution was added. As the amount of added DOC increased, the release of DOC from soils decreased. This indicates that parts of the added DOC were sorbed by thesoil material and this effect was influenced by DOM's properties and soil properties. In this experiment the initial mass (IM) isotherm was used to describe the DOM sorption in soil which has been shown to be a useful tool for describing the sorption of DOC insoils because it takes into consideration the release of indigenous DOM from soil. As compared to green manure DOM, pig manure DOM had high m and Kd values, which indicated that it had a higher affinity with soil. As compared to that of green manure DOM, the m and Kd values are 0.4241, 2.946 in acidic soil and 0.2846, 1.58 in calcareous soil, respectively. What's more, the results also indicated that the acidic soil with higher Fe-oxide and Al-oxide content exhibited much higher DOC adsorption ability than calcareous soil rich in 2:1 minerals. In this experiment, green manure and pig manure compost DOM were selected to investigate the effects of DOM on the precipitation-dissolution behavior of copper at different pH. It can be found that DOM can inhibit the copper precipitation especially at high pH range because of the formation of DOM-Cu complex. From pH 6 to pH 10, as compared to the control treatment with no DOM added, the precipitation rate average decreased by 43.6% for the treatment with green manure DOM added and 22.65% for the treatment with pig manure compost DOM.