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Wetlands regulate the balance of global organic carbon. Small changes in the carbon stocks of wetland ecosystem play a crucial role in the regional soil carbon cycle. However, an accurate estimation of carbon stocks is still be debated for China's wetlands ecosystem due to the limitation of data collection and methodology. Here, we investigate the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in a 1-m depth in China's palustrine wetlands. A total of 1383 sample data were collected from palustrine wetlands in China. The data sources are divided into three parts, respectively, data collection from published literature, data from books, and actual measurement data of sample points. The results demonstrate that there is considerable SOC storage in China's palustrine wetlands (9.945 Pg C), primarily abundant in the northeast, northwest arid and semi-arid as well as Qinghai-Tibet Plateau regions. The SOC density in per unit area soil was higher in the wetland area of northeast, southwest and Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Within China terrestrial scale, the temperature and precipitation differences caused by latitude were the main environmental factors affecting the organic carbon content. Furthermore, except for the southeast and south wetland region, SOC content decreased with depth.

The Heilongjiang River Basin in the eastern Siberia, one of the largest river basins draining to the North Pacific Ocean, is a border river between China, Mongolia, and Russia. In this study, we examined the spatial and seasonal variability in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and dissolved total carbon (DTC) concentrations along lower reaches of Heilongjiang River Basin, China. Water samples were collected monthly along the mouths of main rivers (Heilongjiang River, Wusuli River, and Songhua River) and their ten tributary waters for 2 years. The DOC concentrations of waters ranged from 1.74 to 16.64 mg/L, with a mean value of 8.90 ± 0.27 mg/L (n = 165). Notably, mean DIC concentrations were 9.08 ± 0.31 mg/L, accounting for 13.26∼83.27% of DTC. DIC concentrations increased significantly after the Heilongjiang River passed through Northeast China, while DOC concentrations decreased. Over 50% of DIC concentrations were decreased during exports from groundwater to rice fields and from rice fields to ditches. Water dissolved carbon showed large spatial and temporal variations during the 2-year measurement, suggesting that more frequently samplings were required. Carbon (DIC + DOC) loads from the Heilongjiang River to the Sea of Okhotsk were estimated to be 3.26 Tg C/year in this study, accounting for 0.64% of the global water dissolved carbon flux. DIC export contributed an average of 51.84% of the estimated carbon load in the Heilongjiang River, acting as an important carbon component during riverine transport. Our study could provide some guides on agricultural water management and contribute to more accurately estimate global carbon budgets.

Permafrost soils act as large sinks of organic carbon but are highly sensitive to interference such as changes in land use, which can greatly influence dissolved carbon loads in streams. This study examines the effects of long-term land reclamation on seasonal concentrations of dissolved carbons in the upper reaches of the Nenjiang River, northeast China. A comparison of streams in natural and agricultural systems shows that the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration is much lower in the agricultural stream (AG) than in the two natural streams (WAF, wetland dominated; FR, forest dominated), suggesting that land use change is associated with reduced DOC exporting capacity. Moreover, the fluorescence indexes and the ratio of dissolved carbon to nitrogen also differ greatly between the natural and agricultural streams, indicating that the chemical characteristics and the origin of the DOC released from the whole reaches are also altered to some extent. Importantly, the exporting concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and its proportion of total dissolved carbon (TDC) substantially increase following land reclamation, which would largely alter the carbon cycling processes in the downstream fluvial system. Although the strong association between the stream discharge and the DOC concentration was unchanged, the reduction in total soil organic carbon following land reclamation led to remarkable decline of the total flux and exporting coefficient of the dissolved carbons. The results suggest that dissolved carbons in permafrost streams have been greatly affected by changes in land use since the 1970s, and the changes in the concentration and chemical characteristics of dissolved carbons will last until the alteration in both the traditional agriculture pattern and the persistent reclamation activities.

The extensive reclamation of marshland into cropland has tremendously impacted the ecological environment of the Sanjiang Plain in northeast China. To understand the impacts of marshland reclamation and restoration on soil properties, we investigated the labile organic carbon fractions and the soil enzyme activities in an undisturbed marshland, a cultivated marshland and three marshlands that had been restored for 3, 6 and 12 years. Soil samples collected from the different management systems at a depth of 0-20 cm in July 2009 were analyzed for soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and easily degradable organic carbon. In addition, the activities of the invertase, β-glucosidase, urease and acid phosphatase were determined. These enzymes are involved in C, N and P cycling, respectively. Long-term cultivation resulted in decreased SOC, DOC, MBC, microbial quotient and C (invertase, β-glucosidase) and N-transforming (urease) enzyme activities compared with undisturbed marshland. After marshland restoration, the MBC and DOC concentrations and the soil invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities increased. Soil DOC and MBC concentrations are probably the main factors responsible for the different invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities. In addition, marshland restoration caused a significant increase in the microbial quotient, which reflects enhanced efficiency of organic substrate use by microbial biomass. Our observations demonstrated that soil quality recovered following marshland restoration. DOC, MBC and invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities were sensitive for discriminating soil ecosystems under the different types of land use. Thus, these parameters should be considered to be indicators for detecting changes in soil quality and environmental impacts in marshlands.

Mires in boreal area had proved to be an important dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reserve for the sensitivity to climate change and human interfering. The study was focused on the temporal and spatial dynamics and controlling factors of DOC in a seasonally-waterlogged mire (SLM) and perennially-waterlogged mire (PLM) in the Sanjiang Plain, Northest China. In the two mires, DOC concentrations in both surface water and upper soil strata experienced pronounced seasonal variation. DOC concentrations in the surface waters were the greatest and averagely was 47.82 in SLM and 34.84 mg/L and PLM, whereas that in soil water at 0.3-m depth had little difference (20.25 mg/L in SLM and 26.51 mg/L in PLM). Results revealed that DOC concentrations declined 5-8 times vertically from the surface down to groundwater. DOC in the groundwater only was in a very small part with the average concentration of 5.18 mg/L. In relation to the surface water, DOC concentrations varied positively with temperature just before 8 August, and only in early spring and later autumn DOC concentrations exhibited identifiable spatial trends along with standing water depths in PLM. It was supposed that the influences from standing water depth took effect only in conditions of low temperature, and temperature should be the most powerful factor controlling DOC dynamics in the mires. Redox potential (Red) showed negative relationship with DOC values while total nitrogen (TN) and the majority of free ions in the soil solution exhibited no relationship. High soil TOC/TN ratio and low redox potentials also led to DOC accumulation in the mires in the Sanjiang Plain.