Spatiotemporal variations of nitrogen and phosphorus deposition across China

Zhang Wen; Ruyue Wang; Qi Li; Jianan Liu; Xin Ma; Wen Xu; Aohan Tang; Jeffrey L Collett Jr; Haigang Li; Xuejun Liu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154740

Spatiotemporal variations of nitrogen and phosphorus deposition across China

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jul 15:830:154740. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154740. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

Authors

Zhang Wen¹, Ruyue Wang², Qi Li¹, Jianan Liu³, Xin Ma¹, Wen Xu¹, Aohan Tang¹, Jeffrey L Collett Jr⁴, Haigang Li⁵, Xuejun Liu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Department of Environmental Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA.
⁴ Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
⁵ College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhhot 010018, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: liu310@cau.edu.cn.

PMID: 35341854
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154740

Abstract

Atmospheric deposition is an important pathway for the input of anthropogenic and natural nutrients to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, previous measurements focused mainly on hotspot locations, ignoring the fact that the deposition magnitudes of various nutrient species (e.g., nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P)) at a national scale should be investigated jointly. To better characterize national scale bulk deposition, precipitation samples were collected at 41 sites across China from September 2015 to August 2016 and September 2017 to August 2018. The bulk deposition fluxes of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) over the network were 27.5 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1 and 0.92 kg P ha^-1 yr^-1, respectively. Contributions of NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) to TN averaged 32%, 32%, and 36%, respectively. Significant spatial and seasonal variations in concentrations and deposition fluxes of all nutrient species were observed reflecting effects of local reactive nitrogen (Nr) and P emissions and rainfall amount. Major sources were energy resource consumption for NO₃^-, agricultural activities for NH₄⁺, and a mixed contribution of both anthropogenic and natural sources for DON and TP. Atmospheric N and P deposition represent important external nutrient inputs to ecosystems and a high ratio of TN to TP (29.9) may induce relative P-limitation and further increase the risk of eutrophication. This work reveals a new map of atmospheric N and P deposition and identifies regions where emissions should be controlled to mitigate long-term impacts of atmospheric deposition over China.

Keywords: Bulk deposition; China; Ecological effects; Nitrogen; Phosphorus; Sources analysis.

MeSH terms

China
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Nitrogen* / analysis
Phosphorus* / analysis

Substances

Phosphorus
Nitrogen