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The effect of floating vegetation on CH4 and N2O emissions from subtropical paddy fields in China

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Abstract

Duckweed (Lemna minor), a floating macrophyte belonging to the Lemnaceae family, is commonly found in subtropical paddy fields. This plant rapidly takes up nutrients from water and forms dense floating mats over the water surface that may impact the biogeochemical processes and greenhouse gas production in paddy fields. In this study, we measured CH4 and N2O emissions from duckweed and non-duckweed plots in a subtropical paddy field in China during the period of rice growth using static chamber and gas chromatography methods. Our results showed that CH4 emission rate ranged from 0.19 to 26.50 mg m−2 h−1 in the duckweed plots, and from 1.02 to 28.02 mg m−2 h−1 in the non-duckweed plots. The CH4 emission peak occurred about 1 week earlier in the duckweed plots compared to the non-duckweed counterparts. The mean CH4 emission rate in the duckweed plots (9.28 mg m−2 h−1) was significantly lower than that in non-duckweed plots (11.66 mg m−2 h−1) (p < 0.05), which might be attributed to the higher water and soil Eh in the former. N2O emission rates varied between −50.11 and 201.82 µg m−2 h−1, and between −28.93 and 54.42 µg m−2 h−1 in the duckweed and non-duckweed plots, respectively. The average N2O emission rate was significantly higher in the duckweed plots than in the non-duckweed plots (40.29 vs. 11.93 µg m−2 h−1) (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that the presence of duckweed will reduce CH4 emission, but increase N2O flux simultaneously. Taking into account the combined global warming potentials of CH4 and N2O, we found that growing duckweed could reduce the overall greenhouse effect of subtropical paddy fields by about 17 %.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Na Zhao, and Dehua Lin for their assistance with field sampling. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation of China (31000209), Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2014J01119), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province of China (20132BAB204006), Educational Commission of Jiangxi Province of China (GJJ13241), Key Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education (KLFS-KF-201225), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (SS12434).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Research Centre of Wetlands in Sub-tropical Regions, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, People’s Republic of China

    Chun Wang, Weiqi Wang & Yongyue Ma

  2. Key Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, People’s Republic of China

    Shouchun Li

  3. Department of Geography and Resource Management, and Centre for Environmental Policy and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Sar

    Derrick Y. F. Lai

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  1. Chun Wang
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Correspondence to Weiqi Wang.

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Wang, C., Li, S., Lai, D.Y.F. et al. The effect of floating vegetation on CH4 and N2O emissions from subtropical paddy fields in China. Paddy Water Environ 13, 425–431 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-014-0459-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-014-0459-6

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