Chapter 12
Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition on China’s
Lake Ecosystems: Taking Lake Dianchi
as an Example
Feng Zhou, Xiaoying Zhan, Yan Bo, Hans Paerl, Lirong Song,
and Xuejun Liu
Abstract Elevated atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has greatly influenced
aquatic ecosystems, especially in N budget and phytoplankton structure. Compared
with considerable studies for oligotrophic lakes, estuaries, and open ocean, few
evidence for the importance of N deposition have been directly provided for
eutrophic lakes. Our high-resolution systematic observations of N deposition over
Lake Dianchi (the sixth largest freshwater lake in China), along with simultaneous
measurements of riverine N exports, permit new insight into the contribution of N
deposition to total N loads. Annual atmospheric N deposition accounted for
15.7–16.6% of total N loads under changing precipitation regime, twofold higher
than previous estimates (7.6%) for the Lake Dianchi. It increased to 27–48% in the
critical stage (May and June) when toxic blooms of the ubiquitous non-N 2 -fixing
cyanobacteria Microcystis spp. are initiated and proliferate. Our observations reveal
that reduced N (59%) contributes a greater amount than oxidized N to total N
All authors contributed equally. This chapter is mainly based on previous work by the authors (e.g.,
Zhan et al. 2017).
F. Zhou (*) · X. Zhan · Y. Bo
Sino-France Institute of Earth Systems Science, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College
of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
e-mail: zhouf@pku.edu.cn
H. Paerl
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC,
USA
Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes
Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
L. Song
Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
X. Liu
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing,
China
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Liu, E. Du (eds.), Atmospheric Reactive Nitrogen in China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8514-8_12
263
Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition on China’s
Lake Ecosystems: Taking Lake Dianchi
as an Example
Feng Zhou, Xiaoying Zhan, Yan Bo, Hans Paerl, Lirong Song,
and Xuejun Liu
Abstract Elevated atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has greatly influenced
aquatic ecosystems, especially in N budget and phytoplankton structure. Compared
with considerable studies for oligotrophic lakes, estuaries, and open ocean, few
evidence for the importance of N deposition have been directly provided for
eutrophic lakes. Our high-resolution systematic observations of N deposition over
Lake Dianchi (the sixth largest freshwater lake in China), along with simultaneous
measurements of riverine N exports, permit new insight into the contribution of N
deposition to total N loads. Annual atmospheric N deposition accounted for
15.7–16.6% of total N loads under changing precipitation regime, twofold higher
than previous estimates (7.6%) for the Lake Dianchi. It increased to 27–48% in the
critical stage (May and June) when toxic blooms of the ubiquitous non-N 2 -fixing
cyanobacteria Microcystis spp. are initiated and proliferate. Our observations reveal
that reduced N (59%) contributes a greater amount than oxidized N to total N
All authors contributed equally. This chapter is mainly based on previous work by the authors (e.g.,
Zhan et al. 2017).
F. Zhou (*) · X. Zhan · Y. Bo
Sino-France Institute of Earth Systems Science, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College
of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
e-mail: zhouf@pku.edu.cn
H. Paerl
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC,
USA
Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes
Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
L. Song
Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
X. Liu
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing,
China
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
X. Liu, E. Du (eds.), Atmospheric Reactive Nitrogen in China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8514-8_12
263