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Increasing plant diversity offsets the influence of coarse sand on ecosystem services in microcosms of constructed wetlands

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Abstract

As wastewater treatment systems that strengthen natural processes, constructed wetlands provide both ecosystem services and disservices. Manipulating both the physical and ecological structures of constructed wetlands has been the key to improve ecosystem services while reducing disservices. Herein, an experiment using simulated constructed wetlands was conducted to explore the effect of two different substrate sizes (fine sand or coarse sand), plant richness (1, 3, or 4 species), and plant species identity on ecosystem services. Results indicated that (1) only in microcosms with coarse sand, species richness enhanced nitrogen removal efficiency while reduced nitrous oxide emissions and that (2) the presence of Phalaris arundinacea increased nitrogen removal rate, and the presence of Rumex japonicus or Oenanthe javanica decreased nitrous oxide emissions; (3) however, the net ecosystem services (nitrogen removal, greenhouse gas emissions, biofuel production) of microcosms with fine sand were higher than those of microcosms with coarse sand, and (4) interestingly, there was no difference in net ecosystem services between microcosms with coarse sand (1033 yuan ha−1 day−1; 1 yuan ≈ 0.14 USD) and those with fine sand (1071 yuan ha−1 day−1) for the four-species mixtures. Hence, in practice, ensuring plant species richness with appropriate species in microcosms with coarse sand can improve ecosystem services to a level equal to that of microcosms with fine sand and help to prevent constructed wetlands from clogging.

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Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31670329, 31770434, and 41901242).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanyuan Du, Bin Luo, Wenjuan Han, Yingyao Duan, Chenchen Yu, Ying Ge & Jie Chang

  2. College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang, China

    Wenjuan Han

  3. Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun, 130024, People’s Republic of China

    Meng Wang

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  1. Yuanyuan Du
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  2. Bin Luo
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  8. Jie Chang
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Correspondence to Jie Chang.

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Du, Y., Luo, B., Han, W. et al. Increasing plant diversity offsets the influence of coarse sand on ecosystem services in microcosms of constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 34398–34411 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09592-5

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