Spatiotemporal variations of dissolved CH4 concentrations and fluxes from typical freshwater types in an agricultural irrigation watershed in Eastern China

Inland freshwater ecosystems are of increasing concerns in global methane (CH4) budget in the atmosphere. Agricultural irrigation watersheds are a potential CH4 emission hotspot owing to the anthropogenic carbon and nutrients loading. However, large-scale spatial variations of CH4 concentrations and fluxes in agricultural catchments remain poorly understood, constraining an accurate regional estimate of CH4 budgets. Here, we examined the spatiotemporal variations of dissolved CH4 concentrations and fluxes from typical freshwater types (ditch, reservoir and river) within an agricultural irrigation watershed from Hongze catchment, which is subjected to intensive agricultural and rural activities in Eastern China. The dissolved CH4 concentrations and fluxes showed similar temporal variations among the three freshwater types, with the highest rates in summer and the lowest rates in winter. The total CH4 emission from this agricultural irrigation watershed was estimated to be 0.002 Gg CH4 yr(-1), with annual mean CH4 concentration and flux of 0.12 mu mol L-1 and 0.58 mg m(-2) d(-1), respectively. Diffusive CH4 fluxes varied in samples taken from different freshwater types, the annual mean CH4 fluxes for ditch, reservoir and river were 0.31 +/- 0.06, 0.71 +/- 0.13 and 0.72 +/- 0.25 mg m(-2) d(-1), respectively. Among three freshwater types, the CH4 fluxes were the lowest in ditch, which was associated with the lowest responses of CH4 fluxes to water dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) and sediment dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in ditch. In addition, water velocity and wind speed were significantly lower in ditch than in reservoir and river, suggesting that they also played important roles in explaining the spatial variability of dissolved CH4 concentrations and fluxes. These results highlighted a need for more field measurements with wider spatial coverage and finer frequency, which would further improve the reliability of flux estimates for assessing the contribution of agricultural watersheds to the regional and global CH4 budgets.

Automated summary

Inland freshwater ecosystems, particularly agricultural irrigation watersheds, play a significant role in the global methane budget. Despite this, the large-scale spatial variations of methane concentrations and fluxes in these areas remain poorly understood. This study examined the variations of dissolved methane concentrations and fluxes in different freshwater types within an agricultural irrigation watershed in Eastern China. The results showed that the concentrations and fluxes of methane exhibited similar temporal variations among the freshwater types, with the highest rates occurring in summer and the lowest rates in winter. The study also highlighted the importance of water velocity, wind speed, and water quality parameters in explaining the spatial variability of methane concentrations and fluxes.