Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China

Over the past 50 years, nutrient discharge into freshwater ecosystems has significantly increased due to intensive fertilizer application in China. This has led to frequent environmental issues associated with nutrient enrichment, such as algal blooms, in a number of individual lakes. However, the l...

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Main Authors: Mengxiang Kong, Qi Guan, Lian Feng, Chunmiao Zheng, Jing Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:Environmental Research: Ecology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/adb1ec
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author Mengxiang Kong
Qi Guan
Lian Feng
Chunmiao Zheng
Jing Tang
author_facet Mengxiang Kong
Qi Guan
Lian Feng
Chunmiao Zheng
Jing Tang
author_sort Mengxiang Kong
collection DOAJ
description Over the past 50 years, nutrient discharge into freshwater ecosystems has significantly increased due to intensive fertilizer application in China. This has led to frequent environmental issues associated with nutrient enrichment, such as algal blooms, in a number of individual lakes. However, the linkages between terrestrial nutrient sources and algal bloom occurrence (BO) at large scales remains under-explored. Here, we simulated the long-term changes in nitrogen (N) leaching from terrestrial ecosystems using a dynamic vegetation model Lund–Potsdam–Jena general ecosystem simulator at the national scale from 1979 to 2018, and examined its connection to satellite-derived BO in 56 large lakes across China. Our findings reveal that N leaching exhibited significantly increasing trends in 74.5% of the national landmass, with an overall rate of 0.40 kg N ha ^−1 yr ^−2 for the past four decades. Using a 95% quantile regression model, we analyzed the linkage between N leaching and BO from 2003 to 2018. The results indicated significantly positive correlations in the lakes of the Yangtze Plain during autumn and the lakes of northern China and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau during both summer and autumn. These findings suggest that terrestrial N discharge critically contributes to algal bloom variations in warmer seasons. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of escalating N discharge from terrestrial ecosystems and highlights the potential benefits of fertilization management in mitigating and controlling inland water eutrophication in China.
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spelling doaj-art-cf4ef903014e46bc85b18cf1b6099fae2025-08-20T02:04:19ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Ecology2752-664X2025-01-014202500210.1088/2752-664X/adb1ecChanges in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in ChinaMengxiang Kong0https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0014-3668Qi Guan1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6064-134XLian Feng2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4590-3022Chunmiao Zheng3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5839-1305Jing Tang4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7961-8214School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; Eastern Institute for Advanced Study, Eastern Institute of Technology , Ningbo, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Nanjing, People’s Republic of ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology , Shenzhen, People’s Republic of ChinaEastern Institute for Advanced Study, Eastern Institute of Technology , Ningbo, People’s Republic of China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology , Shenzhen, People’s Republic of ChinaCenter of Volatile Interactions, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen , DK–2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University , Lund SE-223 62, SwedenOver the past 50 years, nutrient discharge into freshwater ecosystems has significantly increased due to intensive fertilizer application in China. This has led to frequent environmental issues associated with nutrient enrichment, such as algal blooms, in a number of individual lakes. However, the linkages between terrestrial nutrient sources and algal bloom occurrence (BO) at large scales remains under-explored. Here, we simulated the long-term changes in nitrogen (N) leaching from terrestrial ecosystems using a dynamic vegetation model Lund–Potsdam–Jena general ecosystem simulator at the national scale from 1979 to 2018, and examined its connection to satellite-derived BO in 56 large lakes across China. Our findings reveal that N leaching exhibited significantly increasing trends in 74.5% of the national landmass, with an overall rate of 0.40 kg N ha ^−1 yr ^−2 for the past four decades. Using a 95% quantile regression model, we analyzed the linkage between N leaching and BO from 2003 to 2018. The results indicated significantly positive correlations in the lakes of the Yangtze Plain during autumn and the lakes of northern China and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau during both summer and autumn. These findings suggest that terrestrial N discharge critically contributes to algal bloom variations in warmer seasons. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of escalating N discharge from terrestrial ecosystems and highlights the potential benefits of fertilization management in mitigating and controlling inland water eutrophication in China.https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/adb1ecalgal bloomsterrestrial ecosystemsLPJ-GUESS modelnitrogen leaching
spellingShingle Mengxiang Kong
Qi Guan
Lian Feng
Chunmiao Zheng
Jing Tang
Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
Environmental Research: Ecology
algal blooms
terrestrial ecosystems
LPJ-GUESS model
nitrogen leaching
title Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
title_full Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
title_fullStr Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
title_full_unstemmed Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
title_short Changes in land-leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in China
title_sort changes in land leaching nitrogen and its linkages to lake algal blooms in china
topic algal blooms
terrestrial ecosystems
LPJ-GUESS model
nitrogen leaching
url https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/adb1ec
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