Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from mariculture ponds: The potential of sediment improvers to reduce carbon emissions

Dongxu Zhang; Jie He; Wenjun Xu; Shuang Li; Huiling Liu; Xinru Chai

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154610

Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from mariculture ponds: The potential of sediment improvers to reduce carbon emissions

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jul 10:829:154610. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154610. Epub 2022 Mar 18.

Authors

Dongxu Zhang¹, Jie He¹, Wenjun Xu², Shuang Li³, Huiling Liu⁴, Xinru Chai⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Enhancement, Zhejiang Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Zhoushan 316021, PR China.
² Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Enhancement, Zhejiang Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Zhoushan 316021, PR China. Electronic address: wjxu1971@hotmail.com.
³ Marine Science and Technology College, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, PR China.
⁴ Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Mariculture and Enhancement, Zhejiang Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Zhoushan 316021, PR China; Marine and Fisheries Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316021, PR China.

PMID: 35307438
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154610

Abstract

The CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes across the water-air interface were determined in two groups of swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus)-ridgetail white prawn (Exopalaemon carinicauda) polyculture ponds. One group of ponds with sediment improver application were referred to as SAPs, and the other group receiving no sediment improver were as NSPs. During the farming season, both the SAPs and NSPs acted as CO₂ sinks and CH₄ sources. The cumulative CO₂-C fluxes from the SAPs and NSPs were -26.78 and -23.49 g m^-2, respectively, and the cumulative CH₄-C emissions from the SAPs and NSPs were 0.24 and 0.28 g m^-2, respectively. CO₂ fluxes were significantly related to net primary production and water pH, and CH₄ fluxes were mainly regulated by water temperature during the farming season. The application of the oxidation-based sediment improver had a positive effect on reducing the CH₄ emissions across the water-air interface but had no effect on CO₂ fluxes. The sediment improver reduced the organic matter contents and improved the sediment pH and redox potential, which may have facilitated a decrease in CH₄ production in the sediment. The CO₂ produced through the oxidation of organic material in the sediment may have been absorbed by strong photosynthesis, resulting in a nonsignificant difference in CO₂ fluxes between the SAPs and NSPs. The results indicated that the application of sediment improvers in coastal polyculture ponds can reduce carbon emissions, especially CH₄ emissions, during the farming period and could help mitigate global warming with regard to the sustained-flux global warming potential (SGWP) and sustained-flux global cooling potential (SGCP) models over a 20-year time horizon. Future studies on the CO₂ and CH₄ production rates of the sediment and the related microbial community could improve our understanding of the effect mechanism of the application of sediment improvers on CO₂ and CH₄ emissions from mariculture ponds.

Keywords: CH(4) flux; CO(2) flux; Mariculture ponds; Oxidation; Sediment improver.

MeSH terms

Animals
Aquaculture
Brachyura*
Carbon Dioxide
Methane*
Ponds
Water

Substances

Water
Carbon Dioxide
Methane