Atmospheric dry and wet nitrogen deposition on three contrasting land use types of an agricultural catchment in subtropical central China

Atmospheric emissions of reactive nitrogen (N) species are at high levels in China in recent years, but few studies have employed N deposition monitoring techniques that measure both dry and wet deposition for comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of N deposition on ecosystems. In this study, to quantify the total N deposition, both dry and wet N depositions were monitored using denuder/filter pack systems, passive samplers and wet-only samplers at three sites with different land use types (forest, paddy field and tea field) in a 135-km2 catchment in subtropical central China from September 2010 to August 2011. At the three sampling sites, the annual mean concentrations of total N (the sum of NH4+NH4+, NO3−NO3− and DON) in rainwater were 1.2–1.6 mg N L−1, showing small variation across sites. Annual mean concentrations of total N (the sum of NH3, NO2, HNO3, particulate NH4+NH4+ and NO3−NO3−) in the air were 13–18 μg N m−3. High NH3 concentrations in the air were observed at the agricultural sites of tea and paddy fields, indicating significant NH3 emissions from N fertiliser application; and high NO2 concentrations were found at the upland sites of forest and tea field, suggesting high NO emissions from soils due to high N deposition or high N fertiliser input. The annual total N deposition for the three sites of paddy field, tea field and forest was estimated as 22, 34 and 55 kg N ha−1 yr−1, in which the dry N deposition components contributed to 21%, 36% and 63% of the annual total N deposition, respectively. The annual deposition of reduced N species was 1.1–1.8 times of the annual deposition of oxidised N species. To minimise the adverse effects of atmospheric N deposition on natural/semi-natural ecosystems, it is crucial to reduce the reactive N emissions from anthropogenic activities (e.g., N fertiliser application, animal production and fossil fuel combustion) in subtropical central China.

► Major atmospheric reactive N species were observed in an agricultural catchment in subtropical central China.
► N deposition was 22–55 kg N ha−1 yr−1, with dry deposition contributing 21%–63 % of the total deposition.
► N fertiliser application and animal production were main sources for NH3 and NH4+.
► Soil NO emission may contribute a large quantity to the NO2 in the air.