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Reducing organic substances from anaerobic decomposition of hydrophytes

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Abstract

Oxidation–reduction properties of surface sediments are tightly associated with the geochemistry of substances, and reducing organic substances (ROS) from hydrophytes residues may play an important role in these processes. In this study, composition, dynamics, and properties of ROS from anaerobic decomposition of Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms, Potamogenton crispus Linn, Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara, Lemna trisulca Linn and Microcystis flos-aquae (Wittr) Kirch were investigated using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The type of hydrophytes determined both the reducibility and composition of ROS. At the peak time of ROS production, the anaerobic decomposition of M. flos-aquae produced 6 types of ROS, among which 3 belonged to strongly reducing organic substance (SROS), whereas there were only 3–4 types of ROS from the other hydrophytes, 2 of them exhibiting strong reducibility. The order of potential of hydrophytes to produce ROS was estimated to be: M. flos-aquae > E. crassipes > L. trisulca > P. crispus ≈ V. natans, based on the summation of SROS and weakly reducing organic substances (WROS). The dynamic pattern of SROS production was greatly different from WROS. The total SROS appeared periodic fluctuation with reducibility gradually weakening with incubation time, whereas the total WROS increased with incubation time. Reducibility of ROS from hydrophytes was readily affected by acid, base and ligands, suggesting that their properties were related to these aspects. In addition to the reducibility, we believe that more attention should be paid to the other behaviors of ROS in surface sediments.

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Acknowledgments

The supports for this work by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 40401029), Natural Sophisticated Technology Plan of China (Project 2005AA60101005-03), and Key Technology Research and Development Program of Jiangsu, China (BE2008691) are gratefully acknowledged. Authors thank Dr. Frank Hagedorn and reviewers for constructive comments to improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430072, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Wen Zhang, Qingman Li, Yu Ding & Jingxian Sun

  2. Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Xingxiang Wang

  3. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100039, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Wen Zhang, Yu Ding & Jingxian Sun

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  1. Wen Zhang
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  2. Qingman Li
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  4. Yu Ding
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Correspondence to Qingman Li.

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Zhang, W., Li, Q., Wang, X. et al. Reducing organic substances from anaerobic decomposition of hydrophytes. Biogeochemistry 94, 1–11 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9295-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9295-y

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