Wenzhi Liu, Guihua Liu,  Quanfa Zhang.  Inflfluence of Vegetation Characteristics on Soil Denitrifification in Shoreline Wetlands of the Danjiangkou Reservoir in China.   Soil, Air, Water 2011, 39 (2), 109–115

Abstract: Soil denitrifification in reservoir shoreline wetlands is an important process for removing excess inorganic nitrogen from upland runoff and controlling eutrophication 

in aquatic ecosystems. As yet, little is known about the inflfluence of vegetation characteristics on the soil denitrifification potential in reservoir shoreline wetlands, although

vegetation can affect both denitrifying bacteria and soil properties. In this study, we measured the spatial variability of denitrifification enzyme activity (DEA) using acetylene block method in shoreline wetlands of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, a water source of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China. Results indicated that DEA

ranged from 0.001 to 2.449 mg N (N2O) g
1 h
1 , with a mean of 0.384mg N (N2O) g- 1 h- 1. DEA varied signifificantly among fifive representative plant communities and 

the highest DEA (0.248–2.449 mg N (N2O) g
1 h
1 ) was observed in the Polygonum hydropiper community. Plant biomass and vegetation cover were signifificantly and 

positively related to DEA and together explained 44.2% of the total variance. These results suggest that vegetation characteristics should also be considered in assessing soil 

denitrifification capacity and restoring shoreline wetlands for nitrogen pollution removal in the Danjiangkou Reservoir after dam heightening.

Keywords:  Agricultural runoff; DEA; Eutrophication; Nitrogen; Restoration