Dimethyl sulfide metabolism in salt marsh sediments

Abstract Anoxic sediment slurries prepared from Spartina salt marsh soils contained dimethyl sulfide (DMS) at concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 μM. DMS was produced in slurries over the initial 1–24 h incubation. After the initial period of production, DMS decreased to undetectable levels and methane thiol (MSH) was produced. Inhibition of methanogenesis caused a 20% decrease in the rate of DMS consumption, while inhibition of sulfate reduction caused a 80% decrease in DMS consumption. When sulfate reduction and methanogenesis were simultaneously inhibited, DMS did not decrease. DMS contributed about 28% to the methane production rate, while DMS probably contributed only 1% or less to the sulfate reduction rate. Incubation of the sediment slurries under an atmosphere of air resulted in similar DMS consumption compared to anaerobic incubations, but MSH and CH₄ were not evolved.
Sediments from the marsh released significant quantities of DMS when treated with cold alkali, indicating that potentially significant sources of DMS existed in the sediments. Values of base-hydrolyzable DMS as high as 190 μmol per liter of sediment were observed near the sediment surface, and values always decreased with depth in the sediment. Simple flux experiments with small intact sediment cores, showed that DMS was emitted from the marsh surface when cores were injected with glutaraldehyde or molybdate and 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES), but nit when cores were left uninhibited. These results showed that DMS was readily metabolized by microbes in marsh sediments and that this metabolism may be responsible for reducing the emission of DMS from the marsh surface.     

Interpretation of sedimentation data measured in a former tidal channel Lake Volkerak

In Lake Volkerak, situated in the southwest of the Netherlands, downward settling fluxes are related to external inputs of suspended solids and wind action. The settling fluxes, measured using sediment traps, were 55 g (dw) m ^–2 d ^–1 on average. The ratio of metal concentration to scandium concentration was used to discriminate between external (polluted) suspended solids and internal (relatively clean) suspended solids. Generally, the contribution of the river suspended solids was small compared to that of resuspended material; the river-transported material was mainly deposited in the centre and to the east of the lake. The amount of material trapped increased substantially with increasing wind velocity.A simple model was used to interpretate the data. This model does not have a predictive capacity, but can be used to interpret and assess the significance of material retained in the sediment traps. Erosion was related to the wind velocity, using an empirical relationship between the orbital velocity of the wind-generated waves at the bottom and the wind velocity. The critical wind velocity for erosion to occur was estimated to be 5.5 m s^–1. The extremely high amounts retained in the sediment traps in shallow areas during storms emphasised the importance of these wind conditions for the transport of fine sediments.     

Post-Fire Resource Redistribution in Desert Grasslands: A Possible Negative Feedback on Land Degradation

Desert grasslands, which are very sensitive to external drivers like climate change, are areas affected by rapid land degradation processes. In many regions of the world the common form of land degradation involves the rapid encroachment of woody plants into desert grasslands. This process, thought to be irreversible and sustained by biophysical feedbacks of global desertification, results in the heterogeneous distribution of vegetation and soil resources. Most of these shrub-grass transition systems at the desert margins are prone to disturbances such as fires, which affect the interactions between ecological, hydrological, and land surface processes. Here we investigate the effect of prescribed fires on the landscape heterogeneity associated with shrub encroachment. Replicated field manipulation experiments were conducted at a shrub-grass transition zone in the northern Chihuahuan desert (New Mexico, USA) using a combination of erosion monitoring techniques, microtopography measurements, infiltration experiments, and isotopic studies. The results indicate that soil erosion is more intense in burned shrub patches compared to burned grass patches and bare interspaces. This enhancement of erosion processes, mainly aeolian, is attributed to the soil–water repellency induced by the burning shrubs, which alters the physical and chemical properties of the soil surface. Further, we show that by enhancing soil erodibility fires allow erosion processes to redistribute resources accumulated by the shrub clumps, thereby leading to a more homogeneous distribution of soil resources. Thus fires counteract or diminish the heterogeneity-forming dynamics of land degradation associated with shrub encroachment by enhancing local-scale soil erodibility. Author Contributions  SR—Conceived of or designed study, performed research, analyzed data, wrote the paper; PD—Conceived of or designed study, performed research, wrote the paper; LW—Performed research, analyzed data; GO—Contributed new methods, analyzed data; SC—Conceived of or designed study; CW—Performed research, contributed new methods or models; and SM—Contributed new methods or models.     

Effect of nutrient loading on biogeochemical and microbial processes in a New England salt marsh

Coastal marshes represent an important transitional zone between uplands and estuaries. One important function of marshes is to assimilate nutrient inputs from uplands, thus providing a buffer for anthropogenic nutrient loads. We examined the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization on biogeochemical and microbial processes during the summer growing season in a Spartina patens (Aiton (Muhl.)) marsh in the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on Prudence Island (RI). Quadruplicate 1 m² plots were fertilized with N and P additions, N-only, P-only, or no additions. N-only addition significantly stimulated bacterial production and increased pore water NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ concentrations. Denitrification rates ranged from 0 to 8 mmol m⁻² day⁻¹. Fertilization had no apparent effect on soil oxygen consumption or denitrification measured in the summer in intact cores due to high core-to-core variation. P fertilization led to increased pore water dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations and increased DIP release from soils. In contrast the control and N-only treatments had significant DIP uptake across the soil-water interface. The results suggest that in the summer fertilization has no apparent effect on denitrification rates, stimulates bacterial productivity, enhances pore water nutrient concentrations and alters some nutrient fluxes across the marsh surface.     

Ecological Reconstruction of the Loess Plateau and Research of Soil Erosion and Dryland Agriculture

Ecological Reconstruction of the Loess Plateau and Research of Soil Erosion and Dryland Agriculture     

垦殖对沼泽湿地土壤呼吸速率的影响

三江平原是我国最大的沼泽化低平原,同时也是受人类活动影响最剧烈的区域之一。选取三江平原两类典型湿地-常年积水的毛果苔草(Carex lasiocapa)沼泽和季节性积水的小叶章(Deyeuxia angustifolia)草甸及由其垦殖的水田和旱田为研究对象,利用静态暗箱-气相色谱法对土壤呼吸速率进行了观测。研究结果表明,小叶章草甸与毛果苔草沼泽土壤呼吸速率的季节变化形式相同,为单峰型,在夏季出现排放峰值,而冬季呼吸速率最低。沼泽湿地垦殖为旱田后,土壤呼吸速率的季节变化形式未发生变化,但垦殖为水田后,土壤呼吸速率排放峰值的时间延后在秋季出现。毛果苔草沼泽、小叶章草甸、旱田及水田通过土壤呼吸释放的碳量分别为(3.1±0.4)、(4.8±0.7)、(2.8±0.4)、(2.2±0.3)tC.hm-2.a-1。毛果苔草沼泽土壤呼吸速率低于小叶章草甸是由沼泽湿地的积水环境差异造成的,而沼泽湿地垦殖为农田后土壤呼吸作用减弱,主要是由于垦殖后土壤有机碳含量大幅降低所致。相关分析表明,温度和土壤湿度(或积水深度)是影响土壤呼吸速率的重要因素,温度与小叶章草甸、毛果苔草沼泽以及旱田土壤呼吸速率呈显著指数关系,Q10值分别为2.1、2.5和1.8,沼泽湿地垦殖为旱田后温度敏感性指数降低,主要是由于土壤微生物营养源减少从而对微生物营养供应受限造成的。小叶章草甸、毛果苔草沼泽、旱田以及水田土壤呼吸速率与土壤湿度/积水深度之间的关系可用线性或二次曲线方程来描述。     

宁夏南部旱区坡地不同粮草带比间作种植模式比较

在宁夏南部旱区15°坡耕地上,于2007年5月至2008年10月连续2a研究了7种不同粮草带状间作(谷子和糜子间作苜蓿)模式与粮食单作(对照处理)模式下的作物产量、形态指标、水分利用效率及水土流失特征。结果表明,同粮食单作相比,4∶4、4∶6、6∶4、6∶6、6∶8、8∶6和8∶8等7个粮(谷子或糜子)草(苜蓿)条带间作种植模式的作物生育后期单株叶面积和单株质量明显增加,作物水分利用效率提高0.99-1.57kg/m3,产量增加3.02%-15.72%,地表径流减少6.86%-58.42%,泥沙流失量减少56.09%-100%。不同粮草带比间作种植模式比较,带距越窄,粮食增产效果和整体水土流失防治效果越佳。尤其是4∶4、4∶6和6∶43种带比间作种植模式的综合效果较好。     

The Monstering of Tamarisk: How Scientists made a Plant into a Problem

Dispersal of biota by humans is a hallmark of civilization, but the results are often unforeseen and sometimes costly. Like kudzu vine in the American South, some examples become the stuff of regional folklore. In recent decades, “invasion biology,” conservation-motivated scientists and their allies have focused largely on the most negative outcomes and often promoted the perception that introduced species are monsters. However, cases of monstering by scientists preceded the rise of popular environmentalism. The story of tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), flowering trees and shrubs imported to New England sometime before 1818, provides an example of scientific “monstering” and shows how slaying the monster, rather than allaying its impacts, became a goal in itself. Tamarisks’ drought and salt tolerance suggested usefulness for both coastal and inland erosion control, and politicians as well as academic and agency scientists promoted planting them in the southern Great Plains and Southwest. But when erosion control efforts in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas became entangled with water shortages, economic development during the Depression and copper mining for national defense during World War Two, federal hydrologists moved quickly to recast tamarisks as water-wasting foreign monsters. Demonstrating significant water salvage was difficult and became subsidiary to focusing on ways to eradicate the plants, and a federal interagency effort devoted specifically to the latter purpose was organized and continued until it, in turn, conflicted with regional environmental concerns in the late 1960s.