Ocean acidification in nitrogen-enriched estuaries has raised global concerns. For decades, biotic and abiotic denitrification in estuarine sediments has been regarded as the major ways to remove reactive nitrogen, but they occur at the expense of releasing greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2 O). However, how these pathways respond to acidification remains poorly understood. Here we performed a N 2 O isotopocules analysis coupled with respiration inhibition and molecular approaches to investigate the impacts of acidification on bacterial, fungal, and chemo-denitrification, as well as N 2 O emission, in estuarine sediments through a series of anoxic incubations.Results showed that acidification stimulated N 2 O release from sediments, which was mainly mediated by the activity of bacterial denitrifiers, whereas in neutral environments, N 2 O production was dominated by fungi. We also found that the contribution of chemo-denitrification to N 2 O production cannot be ignored, but was not significantly affected by acidification. The mechanistic investigation further demonstrated that acidification changed the keystone taxa of sedimentary denitrifiers from N 2 Oreducing to N 2 O-producing ones and reduced microbial electron-transfer efficiency during denitrification. These findings provide novel insights into how acidification stimulates N 2 O emission and modulates its pathways in estuarine sediments, and how it may contribute to the acceleration of global climate change in the Anthropocene.

Abstract“Plastisphere”, microbial communities colonizing plastic debris, has sparked global concern for marine ecosystems. Microbiome inhabiting this novel human-made niche has been increasingly characterized; however, whether the plastisphere holds crucial roles in biogeochemical cycling remains largely unknown. Here we evaluate the potential of plastisphere in biotic and abiotic denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) production in estuaries. Biofilm formation provides anoxic conditions favoring denitrifiers. Comparing with surrounding bulk water, plastisphere exhibits a higher denitrifying activity and N2O production, suggesting an overlooked N2O source. Regardless of plastisphere and bulk water, bacterial and fungal denitrifications are the main regulators for N2O production instead of chemodenitrification. However, the contributions of bacteria and fungi in the plastisphere are different from those in bulk water, indicating a distinct N2O production pattern in the plastisphere. These findings pinpoint plastisphere as a N2O source, and provide insights into roles of the new biotope in biogeochemical cycling in the Anthropocene.