ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Community Ecology and Functional Roles in Salt Marsh Wetland EcosystemsView all articles
Inundation mitigates the nitrogen-induced increase in soil nitrous oxide emissions in estuarine and coastal wetlands
Provisionally accepted
- School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
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Nitrogen enrichment and sea-level rise are two critical drivers affecting estuarine and coastal wetland ecosystems globally. However, the effects of these drivers on soil nitrous oxide (N2O) production, consumption, and resulting ultimate emissions remain poorly understood. In this study, nitrogen input (+N treatment), increased inundation (+I treatment), and their combination (+N+I treatment) were simulated in situ using a weir device to explore the individual and interactive effects of enhanced nitrogen loading and sea-level rise on soil N2O dynamics. Our results showed that nitrogen input (+N treatment) significantly increased soil N2O emission (82.9%), primarily by stimulating gross N2O production. In contrast, the inundation increases alone (+I treatment) did not alter soil N2O production and consumption process dynamics. The Combined treatment of increased nitrogen input and inundation (+N+I treatment) dramatically promoted soil gross N2O production (85.3%). However, an elevated proportion of N2O consumption mitigates its effect on N2O emissions. This implies that increased inundation resulting from the sea level rise may counteract nitrogen-stimulated soil N2O emissions. The contents of soil carbon and nitrogen substrate (e.g., DOC and NH4+), along with the gene abundances (e.g., nosZ) involved in N2O production and consumption, were the pivotal factors in mediating the changes in N2O dynamics under various treatments. Overall, our findings highlighted the importance of increased inundation caused by sea-level rise in alleviating N2O emissions under high nitrogen conditions, yet widely overlooked.
Keywords: emission dynamics, estuarinewetland, Nitrogen enrichment, Nitrous Oxide, SEA-LEVEL RISE
Received: 21 Nov 2025; Accepted: 10 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Zhang and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiafang Huang
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