WANG Hui1，2, HU Hongjuan1, WANG Kehuan1, LI Xin 1, XIONG Xiong1,WU Chenxi1

（1.State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China;
2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China）

Abstract：Alpine wetlands are important areas for elemental biogeochemical cycling, and the water characteristics of alpine wetlands can not only influence the biogeochemistry of different elements, but also the structure and function of the ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the water environment of three different types of natural alpine wetlands (estuarine wetlands, riverine wetlands, and peatlands) in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during two field campaigns in September 2020 and April 2021, respectively. The spatial and temporal variation of the water environment indicators of the wetlands were compared and the possible reasons were discussed. The results showed that total nitrogen, dissolved reactive phosphorus, and total organic carbon contents in the water of estuarine wetlands and dissolved inorganic nitrogen and total organic carbon contents in the water of riverine wetlands were significantly higher in April than those in September. Total nitrogen contents in the water of peatlands were significantly higher in September than those in April, the rest of water environment indexes did not change significantly with seasons among the three types of wetlands. For peatlands, the chlorophyll a content was significantly higher than that of the other two types of wetlands, while total organic carbon was significantly higher than that of riverine wetlands. The total nitrogen contents of peatlands and riverine wetlands were significantly higher than those of estuarine wetlands. Soluble reactive phosphorus, on the other hand, showed a trend of estuarine wetlands > peatlands > riverine wetlands. The differences in hydrological characteristics, biotic activities, and sources of nutrients in different wetlands might lead to the spatial and temporal differences in the characteristics of the wetland water environment.

Key words：Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; alpine wetland; water environment; temporal and spatial variation; impact factor

EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT Vol.51, No.2, Tot No.352, 2023, Page 164