A preliminary study of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from the Gahai wetland

doi:10.11686/cyxb2014350

Abstract

Abstract: A study has been undertaken to estimate fluxes of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) in wetlands, to understand the effects of temperature factors on these processes and to estimate global warming potential (GWP). Using static chamber techniques, we measured CH₄, CO₂, and N₂O fluxes from four wetland types in Gansu Gahai Wetlands, China, from July 2011 to July 2012. The results showed high variations in CH₄, CO₂ and N₂O fluxes between the four wetlands, with the smallest values in the subalpine meadow (-0.014±0.126 mg/m²·h), marsh wetland (137.17±284.51 mg/m²·h) and mountain wetland (-0.008±0.022 mg/m²·h) respectively. The highest values of CH₄, CO₂ and N₂O fluxes were in marsh wetland (0.498±0.682 mg/m²·h), mountain wetland (497.81±473.09 mg/m²·h) and herbaceous peat (0.094±0.117 mg/m²·h) respectively. CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes varied seasonally. Maximal fluxes occurred between July-October 2011 and May-July 2012, then decreased and remained relatively steady, with some slight fluctuations during the winter and thawing or freezing periods. Further analysis showed that air temperature, soil temperature (at 5 cm), surface temperature and temperature inside the box were highly significantly positively correlated with CO₂ flux from the four wetlands. These variables were significantly positively correlated with CH₄ flux from mountain wetland but not from the other wetland types. They were significantly negatively correlated with N₂O flux from all four wetland types. The GWP estimates were 35.311, 13.520, 34.816 and 30.236 t CO₂/(hm² ·a) from herbaceous peat, marsh wetland, mountain wetland and subalpine meadow respectively. These results show that marsh wetland could significantly decrease the emission of greenhouse gases from the Gahai Wetlands.

MA Wei-Wei, WANG Hui, LI Guang, ZHAO Jin-Mei, WANG Yue-Si. A preliminary study of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from the Gahai wetland[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2015, 24(8): 1-10.

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