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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (12): 4475-4487.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202112.019

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Nitrogen flow and polluted nitrogen footprint accounting of rural systems at the municipal scale: The case of Shenyang

ZHAI Jia-ning1,2, LI Hong-qing1,2, REN Wan-xia1,3, TANG Cheng-rui1,3, XUE Bing1,3*   

  1. 1Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China;
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    3Key Laboratory for Environmental Computation and Sustainability of Liaoning Province, Shenyang 110016, China
  • Received:2021-03-18 Revised:2021-09-29 Online:2021-12-15 Published:2022-06-15
  • Contact: *E-mail: xuebing@iae.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (41971166)

Abstract: Understanding the process of nitrogen flow, emission, and utilization in rural systems is of great importance to reduce pollutant emissions caused by agricultural activities and to promote the sustainable utilization of nutrient resources. Based on the NUFER (nutrient flow in food chain, environment and resources use) model and nitrogen footprint approach, we proposed a nitrogen accounting framework for municipal-scale rural systems, and conducted a quantitative and time series-based comparative study on nitrogen flow, recycling, and footprint from the perspective of three subsystems, namely planting, animal husbandry, and rural human settlement in Shenyang from 1998 to 2018. The results showed that: 1) nitrogen utilization rates of the planting subsystem, animal husbandry subsystem, and rural human settlement subsystem were 36.1%, 59.7%, and 70.1%, respectively in 2018, with a growth rate of 15.9%, 9.1%, and 0.7% respectively compared to 1998; 2) The total polluted nitrogen footprint in Shenyang grew rapidly from 1998 to 2014, but declined from 2014 to 2018. In 2018, the total footprint of nitrogen pollution was 123.5 Gg, increasing by 21.6% compared with 1998; 3) In 2018, the unused nitrogen in the planting subsystem, animal husbandry subsystem, and rural human settlement subsystem were 129.5, 62.2, and 8.7 Gg, respectively, which were equivalent to 420.4, 202.1, and 8.7 Gg of nutrient resources from nitrogen fertilizer, respectively. In general, the nitrogen use efficiency of rural system increased gradually from the production end to the consumption end, but the temporal and spatial variation of nitrogen in rural systems need further studies.

Key words: human-natural system, nitrogen footprint, rural system, nitrogen flow, Shenyang City