Articles | Volume 23, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7545-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7545-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Oct 2026
Research article |
| 26 Oct 2026
| 26 Oct 2026
Macro constraints and local eutrophication shape sediment nitrogen removal in the Eastern China Plain lakes
Jiahao Wei
State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Ke Yang
State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yaru Liu
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Yi Yin
School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Lachun Wang
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Enlou Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Zhijun Gong
State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Cited articles
Bergström, A. K. and Karlsson, J.: Light and nutrient control phytoplankton biomass responses to global change in northern lakes, Global Change Biol., 25, 2021–2029, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14623, 2019.
Borcard, D. and Legendre, P.: All-scale spatial analysis of ecological data by means of principal coordinates of neighbour matrices, Ecol. Modell., 153, 51–68, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(01)00501-4, 2002.
Breiman, L.: Random forests, Mach. Learn., 45, 5–32, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324, 2001.
Carlson, H. K., Clark, I. C., Blazewicz, S. J., Iavarone, A. T., and Coates, J. D.: Fe (II) oxidation is an innate capability of nitrate-reducing bacteria that involves abiotic and biotic reactions, J. Bacteriol., 195, 3260–3268, https://doi.org/10.1128/Jb.00058-13, 2013.
Cline, L. C. and Zak, D. R.: Soil microbial communities are shaped by plant-driven changes in resource availability during secondary succession, Ecology, 96, 3374–3385, https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0184.1, 2015.
Dai, T. J., Wen, D. H., Bates, C. T., Wu, L. W., Guo, X., Liu, S., Su, Y. F., Lei, J. S., Zhou, J. Z., and Yang, Y. F.: Nutrient supply controls the linkage between species abundance and ecological interactions in marine bacterial communities, Nat. Commun., 13, 175, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27857-6, 2022.
Dai, Y. H., Yang, S. B., Zhao, D., Hu, C. M., Xu, W., Anderson, D. M., Li, Y., Song, X. P., Boyce, D. G., Gibson, L., Zheng, C. M., and Feng, L.: Coastal phytoplankton blooms expand and intensify in the 21st century, Nature, 615, 280–284, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05760-y, 2023.
Dandie, C. E., Wertz, S., Leclair, C. L., Goyer, C., Burton, D. L., Patten, C. L., Zebarth, B. J., and Trevors, J. T.: Abundance, diversity and functional gene expression of denitrifier communities in adjacent riparian and agricultural zones, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 77, 69–82, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01084.x, 2011.
Deng, D. L., Pan, Y. T., Liu, G. H., Liu, W. Z., and Ma, L.: Seeking the hotspots of nitrogen removal: A comparison of sediment denitrification rate and denitrifier abundance among wetland types with different hydrological conditions, Sci. Total Environ., 737, 140253, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140253, 2020.
Deng, D. L., Ding, B. J., He, G., Ji, M. F., Yang, Y. Y., Liu, G. H., Zhang, Q. F., and Liu, W. Z.: The contribution of anammox to nitrogen removal is greater in bulk soils than in rhizosphere soils in riparian wetlands along the Yangtze River, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 37, e2022GB007576, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GB007576, 2023.
Deng, D. L., Yang, Z. J., Yang, Y. Y., Wan, W. J., Liu, W. Z., and Xiong, X.: Metagenomic insights into nitrogen-cycling microbial communities and their relationships with nitrogen removal potential in the Yangtze River, Water Rese., 265, 122229, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122229, 2024.
Ding, D. D., Shi, Z. J., Chen, J. S., Zhang, H., Meng, Q. Q., and Han, W. X.: Solar radiation and water stress are major environmental drivers of the latitudinal pattern of leaf Si concentration in woody plants, Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 34, e70122, https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70122, 2025.
Du, X. F., Gu, S. S., Zhang, Z., Li, S. Z., Zhou, Y. Q., Zhang, Z. J., Zhang, Q., Wang, L. L., Ju, Z. C., Yan, C. L., Li, T., Wang, D. R., Yang, X. S., Peng, X., and Deng, Y.: Spatial distribution patterns across multiple microbial taxonomic groups, Environ. Res., 223, 115470, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115470, 2023.
Egidi, E., Coleine, C., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., and Singh, B. K.: Assessing critical thresholds in terrestrial microbiomes, Nat. Microbiol., 8, 2230–2233, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01536-2, 2023.
Fuhrman, J. A., Steele, J. A., Hewson, I., Schwalbach, M. S., Brown, M. V., Green, J. L., and Brown, J. H.: A latitudinal diversity gradient in planktonic marine bacteria, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 7774–7778, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803070105, 2008.
Gao, D. W., Wang, X. L., Liang, H., Wei, Q. H., Dou, Y., and Li, L. W.: Anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria: ecological distribution, metabolism, and microbial interactions, Front. Environ. Sci. En., 12, 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-018-1035-x, 2018.
Han, P., Tang, X. F., Koch, H., Dong, X. Y., Hou, L. J., Wang, D. H., Zhao, Q., Li, Z., Liu, M., Lücker, S., and Shi, G. T.: Unveiling unique microbial nitrogen cycling and nitrification driver in coastal Antarctica, Nat. Commun., 15, 3143, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47392-4, 2024.
Harris, I., Osborn, T. J., Jones, P., and Lister, D.: Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset, Sci. Data, 7, 109, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0453-3, 2020.
Hernandez, D. J., Kiesewetter, K. N., Almeida, B. K., Revillini, D., and Afkhami, M. E.: Multidimensional specialization and generalization are pervasive in soil prokaryotes, Nat. Ecol. Evol., 7, 1408–1418, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02149-y, 2023.
Ho, J. C., Michalak, A. M., and Pahlevan, N.: Widespread global increase in intense lake phytoplankton blooms since the 1980s, Nature, 574, 667–670, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1648-7, 2019.
Hou, X. J., Feng, L., Dai, Y. H., Hu, C. A. M., Gibson, L., Tang, J., Lee, Z. P., Wang, Y., Cai, X. B., Liu, J. G., Zheng, Y., and Zheng, C. M.: Global mapping reveals increase in lacustrine algal blooms over the past decade, Nat. Geosci., 15, 130–134, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00887-x, 2022.
Hu, Y. L., Wang, S., Niu, B., Chen, Q. Y., Wang, J., Zhao, J. X., Luo, T. X., and Zhang, G. X.: Effect of increasing precipitation and warming on microbial community in Tibetan alpine steppe, Environ. Res., 189, 109917, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109917, 2020.
Huisman, J., Codd, G. A., Paerl, H. W., Ibelings, B. W., Verspagen, J. M. H., and Visser, P. M.: Cyanobacterial blooms, Nat. Rev. Microbiol., 16, 471–483, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-018-0040-1, 2018.
Hutchins, D. A. and Tagliabue, A.: Feedbacks between phytoplankton and nutrient cycles in a warming ocean, Nat. Geosci., 17, 495–502, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01454-w, 2024.
IPCC: Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, p. 3056, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844, 2022.
Jiang, X. Y., Gao, G., Zhang, L., Tang, X. M., Shao, K. Q., and Hu, Y.: Denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium in freshwater lakes of the Eastern Plain, China: Influences of organic carbon and algal bloom, Sci. Total Environ., 710, 136303, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136303, 2020.
Jiang, X. Y., Liu, C. Q., Cai, J., Hu, Y., Shao, K. Q., Tang, X. M., Gong, Y., Yao, X. L., Xu, Q. J., and Gao, G.: Relationships between environmental factors and N-cycling microbes reveal the indirect effect of further eutrophication on denitrification and DNRA in shallow lakes, Water Res., 245, 120572, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.120572, 2023.
Keck, F., Peller, T., Alther, R., Barouillet, C., Blackman, R., Capo, E., Chonova, T., Couton, M., Fehlinger, L., Kirschner, D., Knüsel, M., Muneret, L., Oester, R., Tapolczai, K., Zhang, H., and Altermatt, F.: The global human impact on biodiversity, Nature, 641, 395–400, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08752-2, 2025.
Kuypers, M. M. M., Marchant, H. K., and Kartal, B.: The microbial nitrogen-cycling network, Nat. Rev. Microbiol., 16, 263–276, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2018.9, 2018.
Lambert, T., Dupas, R., and Durand, P.: The role of nitrogen and iron biogeochemical cycles in the production and export of dissolved organic matter in agricultural headwater catchments, Biogeosciences, 21, 4533–4547, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4533-2024, 2024.
Liu, C., Li, X. Z., Mansoldo, F. R. P., An, J. X., Kou, Y. P., Zhang, X., Zeng, J. X., Vermelho, A. B., Wang, J. M., and Yao, M. J.: Microbial habitat specificity largely affects microbial co-occurrence patterns and functional profiles in wetland soils, Geoderma, 418, 115866, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2022.115866, 2022.
Louca, S., Polz, M. F., Mazel, F., Albright, M. B. N., Huber, J. A., O'Connor, M. I., Ackermann, M., Hahn, A. S., Srivastava, D. S., Crowe, S. A., Doebeli, M., and Parfrey, L. W.: Function and functional redundancy in microbial systems, Nat. Ecol. Evol., 2, 936–943, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0519-1, 2018.
Ma, L., Jiang, X. L., Liu, G. H., Yao, L. G., Liu, W. Z., Pan, Y. T., and Zuo, Y. X.: Environmental factors and microbial diversity and abundance jointly regulate soil nitrogen and carbon biogeochemical processes in Tibetan Wetlands, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 3267–3277, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06716, 2020.
Ma, R. H., Duan, H. T., Hu, C. M., Feng, X. Z., Li, A. N., Ju, W. M., Jiang, J. H., and Yang, G. S.: A half-century of changes in China's lakes: Global warming or human influence?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L24106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010gl045514, 2010.
Manzoni, S., Schaeffer, S. M., Katul, G., Porporato, A., and Schimel, J. P.: A theoretical analysis of microbial eco-physiological and diffusion limitations to carbon cycling in drying soils, Soil Biol. Biochem., 73, 69–83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.02.008, 2014.
Martiny, J. B. H., Martiny, A. C., Brodie, E., Chase, A. B., Rodriguez-Verdugo, A., Treseder, K. K., and Allison, S. D.: Investigating the eco-evolutionary response of microbiomes to environmental change, Ecol. Lett., 26, S81–S90, https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14209, 2023.
Mendonça, R., Müller, R. A., Clow, D., Verpoorter, C., Raymond, P., Tranvik, L. J., and Sobek, S.: Organic carbon burial in global lakes and reservoirs, Nat. Commun., 8, 1694, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01789-6, 2017.
Pascal, L., Cloutier-Artiwat, F., Zanon, A., Wallace, D. W. R., and Chaillou, G.: New Deoxygenation Threshold for N2, and N2O Production in Coastal Waters and Sediments, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 39, e2024GB008218, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GB008218, 2025.
Patchett, A., Rütting, L., Rütting, T., Bodé, S., Hallin, S., Juhanson, J., Stange, C. F., Björkman, M. P., Boeckx, P., Rosqvist, G., and Björk, R. G.: The role of mycorrhizal type and plant dominance in regulating nitrogen cycling in Oroarctic soils, Biogeosciences, 22, 6841–6860, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6841-2025, 2025.
Steinegger, M. and Söding, J.: Clustering huge protein sequence sets in linear time, Nat. Commun., 9, 2542, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04964-5, 2018.
Stüeken, E. E., Pellerin, A., Thomazo, C., Johnson, B. W., Duncanson, S., and Schoepfer, S. D.: Marine biogeochemical nitrogen cycling through Earth's history, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 5, 732–747, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00591-5, 2024.
Sun, F. S., Ma, C., Yu, G. H., Kuzyakov, Y., Lang, Y. C., Fu, P. Q., Guo, L. J., Teng, H. H., and Liu, C. Q.: Organic carbon preservation in wetlands: Iron oxide protection vs. thermodynamic limitation, Water Res., 241, 120133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.120133, 2023.
Sveen, T. R., Viketoft, M., Bengtsson, J., Strengbom, J., Lejoly, J., Buegger, F., Pritsch, K., Fritscher, J., Hildebrand, F., Osburn, E., Hannula, S. E., and Bahram, M.: Functional diversity of soil microbial communities increases with ecosystem development, Nat. Commun., 16, 10408, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66544-8, 2025.
Thamdrup, B. and Dalsgaard, T.: Production of N through anaerobic ammonium oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction in marine sediments, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 68, 1312–1318, https://doi.org/10.1128/Aem.68.3.1312-1318.2002, 2002.
Tsementzi, D., Wu, J. Y., Deutsch, S., Nath, S., Rodriguez, L. M., Burns, A. S., Ranjan, P., Sarode, N., Malmstrom, R. R., Padilla, C. C., Stone, B. K., Bristow, L. A., Larsen, M., Glass, J. B., Thamdrup, B., Woyke, T., Konstantinidis, K. T., and Stewart, F. J.: SAR11 bacteria linked to ocean anoxia and nitrogen loss, Nature, 536, 179–183, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19068, 2016.
Tu, Q. C., Lin, L., Cheng, L., Deng, Y., and He, Z. L.: NCycDB: a curated integrative database for fast and accurate metagenomic profiling of nitrogen cycling genes, Bioinformatics, 35, 1040–1048, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bty741, 2019.
van Helmond, N. A. G. M., Robertson, E. K., Conley, D. J., Hermans, M., Humborg, C., Kubeneck, L. J., Lenstra, W. K., and Slomp, C. P.: Removal of phosphorus and nitrogen in sediments of the eutrophic Stockholm archipelago, Baltic Sea, Biogeosciences, 17, 2745–2766, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2745-2020, 2020.
Wang, C. R., He, T. X., Zhang, M. M., Zheng, C. X., Yang, L., and Yang, L.: Review of the mechanisms involved in dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium and the efficacies of these mechanisms in the environment, Environ. Pollut., 345, 123480, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123480, 2024.
Wang, S. Y., Liu, W. Y., Zhao, S. Y., Wang, C., Zhuang, L. J., Liu, L., Wang, W. D., Lu, Y. L., Li, F. B., and Zhu, G. B.: Denitrification is the main microbial N loss pathway on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau above an elevation of 5000 m, Sci. Total Environ., 696, 133852, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133852, 2019.
Wang, Y., Zhao, D., Woolway, R. I., Yan, H. R., Paerl, H. W., Zheng, Y., Zheng, C. M., and Feng, L.: Global elevation of algal bloom frequency in large lakes over the past two decades, Nat. Sci. Rev., 12, nwaf011, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaf011, 2025.
Wei, J. H.: Sediment nitrogen removal in the Eastern China Plain lakes, figshare [data set], https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32005818.v1, 2026.
Wei, J. H., Zhang, Q. J., Yin, Y., Peng, K., Wang, L. C., Cai, Y. J., and Gong, Z. J.: Limited impacts of water diversion on micro-eukaryotic community along the Eastern Route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Water Res., 262, 122109, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122109, 2024.
Woolway, R. I., Kraemer, B. M., Lenters, J. D., Merchant, C. J., O'Reilly, C. M., and Sharma, S.: Global lake responses to climate change, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 1, 388-403, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0067-5, 2020.
Woolway, R. I., Zhang, Y. L., Jennings, E., Zohary, T., Jane, S. F., Jansen, J., Weyhenmeyer, G. A., Long, D., Fleischmann, A., Feng, L., Qin, B. Q., Shi, K., Shi, H. R., Wang, W. J., Tong, Y., Zhang, G. Q., Zscheischler, J., Ren, Z., and Jeppesen, E.: Extreme and compound events in lakes, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 6, 593–611, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00710-w, 2025.
Wu, Z., Guo, X., Shi, J., Ding, X., Nakakuni, M., and Tada, K.: Seasonal variations and controlling factors of nitrogen fluxes at the sediment-water interface in a semi-enclosed inland sea, Biogeosciences, 23, 6053–6072, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-6053-2026, 2026.
Xiong, Z. Q., Guo, L. D., Zhang, Q. F., Liu, G. H., and Liu, W. Z.: Edaphic conditions regulate denitrification directly and indirectly by altering denitrifier abundance in wetlands along the Han River, China, Environ. Sci. Technol., 51, 5483–5491, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06521, 2017.
Xu, Y., Sun, X. Y., and Tang, Q.: Human activity intensity of land surface: Concept, method and application in China, J. Geogr. Sci., 26, 1349–1361, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-016-1331-y, 2016.
Yan, P. H., Zhuang, S. Z., Li, M. J., Zhang, J., Wu, S. B., Xie, H. J., and Wu, H. M.: Combined environmental pressure induces unique assembly patterns of micro-plastisphere biofilm microbial communities in constructed wetlands, Water Res., 260, 121958, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.121958, 2024.
Yang, C. H., Zhang, M., Zhang, C. C., Wang, G. X., Yin, H. B., Zhang, L. Y., and Liu, J. A.: Release pattern of internal nutrients after sediment dredging driven by particulate particles deposition in eutrophic lakes, Water Res., 289, 124879, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.124879, 2026.
Yang, L., Zou, Y. C., Jia, Z. J., Luo, Y., Qin, L., Jiang, M., and Yu, Z. C.: Iron reduction promotes carbon mineralization and nutrient release of iron-associated organic matter in anoxic environments, Water Res., 284, 124032, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.124032, 2025.
Yoon, S., Cruz-García, C., Sanford, R., Ritalahti, K. M., and Löffler, F. E.: Denitrification versus respiratory ammonification: environmental controls of two competing dissimilatory NO
Yuan, M. M., Guo, X., Wu, L. W., Zhang, Y., Xiao, N. J., Ning, D. L., Shi, Z., Zhou, X. S., Wu, L. Y., Yang, Y. F., Tiedje, J. M., and Zhou, J. Z.: Climate warming enhances microbial network complexity and stability, Nat. Clim. Change, 11, 343–348, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-00989-9, 2021.
Zhou, J., Leavitt, P. R., Zhang, Y. B., and Qin, B. Q.: Anthropogenic eutrophication of shallow lakes: Is it occasional?, Water Res., 221, 118728, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.118728, 2022.
Zhou, Y. W., Xu, X. G., Song, K., Yeerken, S., Deng, M., Li, L., Riya, S. H., Wang, Q. L., and Terada, A.: Nonlinear pattern and algal dual-impact in N2O emission with increasing trophic levels in shallow lakes, Water Res., 203, 117489, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117489, 2021.
Zhu, G. B., Wang, S. Y., Wang, W. D., Wang, Y., Zhou, L. L., Jiang, B., Op den Camp, H. J. M., Risgaard-Petersen, N., Schwark, L., Peng, Y. Z., Hefting, M. M., Jetten, M. S. M., and Yin, C. Q.: Hotspots of anaerobic ammonium oxidation at land-freshwater interfaces, Nat. Geosci., 6, 103–107, https://doi.org/10.1038/Ngeo1683, 2013.
Short summary
This study examines sediment nitrogen removal using 15N tracing and multiomics across 17 Eastern China Plain lakes. Results show that denitrification dominates nitrogen loss, and eutrophication amplifies removal capacity while decoupling genetic potential from active expression. Furthermore, macro factors indirectly drive removal by reshaping local physicochemical properties. These insights facilitate better management strategies to safeguard lake ecosystem services under global change.
This study examines sediment nitrogen removal using 15N tracing and multiomics across 17 Eastern...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint