Potential ammonia emissions from penguin guano, ornithogenic soils and seal colony soils in coastal Antarctica: effects of freezing-thawing cycles and selected environmental variables

Abstract

Abstract Very little attention has been paid to quantifying ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions from Antarctic marine animal excreta. In this paper, penguin guano and ornithogenic soils from four penguin colonies and seal colony soils were collected in coastal Antarctica, and laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate potential NH 3 emissions and effects of environmental factors on NH 3 fluxes. Ammonia fluxes were extremely low from the frozen samples. Significantly enhanced NH 3 emissions were observed following thawing. The mean fluxes were 7.66 ± 4.33 mg NH 3 kg -1 h -1 from emperor penguin guano, 1.31 ± 0.64 mg NH 3 kg -1 h -1 from Adélie penguin guano and 0.33 ± 0.39 mg NH 3 kg -1 h -1 from seal colony soils during the thawing period. Ammonia emissions from penguin guano were higher than those from ornithogenic soils during freezing-thawing cycles (FTCs). The temperature, pH, total nitrogen (TN) and drying-wetting conversion had an important effect on NH 3 fluxes. For the first time, we provide a quantitative relationship between NH 3 flux and temperature, TN and pH. Our results show that marine animal excreta and ornithogenic soils are significant NH 3 emission sources. In coastal Antarctica, FTC-induced NH 3 emissions might account for a large proportion of annual flux from marine animal colonies due to high freezing-thawing frequency.