TY - JOUR
T1 - Interactive effect of temperature and plant species on nitrogen cycling and treatment in stormwater biofiltration systems
AU - Fowdar, Harsha S.
AU - Wong, Wei Wen
AU - Henry, Rebekah
AU - Cook, Perran L.M.
AU - McCarthy, David T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of our funding partners and collaborators, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR), Jiangsu Easthigh Airport Hi-tech Industrial Park Co. Ltd. (Easthigh) and Dajiang Environment Corporation (Dajiang). We sincerely thank Ana Deletic, Kefeng Zhang, Emily Payne, Richard Williamson, Anthony Brosinsky, Gordon Privitera and Yussi Delgado for their assistance during this research. Our thanks also goes to all undergraduate and postgraduate students who have assisted during the various sampling campaigns.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/7/20
Y1 - 2022/7/20
N2 - Stormwater biofiltration systems (also known as biofilters, bioretention, rain gardens) are engineered nature-based solutions, which help mitigate aquatic nitrogen pollution arising from storm runoff. These systems are being increasingly used in a range of climates across the world. A decline in treatment performance is frequently observed in cold weather conditions. While plant species comprise an important design factor influencing system performance, the effect of temperature on the fate of dissolved nitrogen forms, namely ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3−), in the presence of different plant species in these systems remains unclear. A large scale laboratory experiment was undertaken that measured potential rates of nitrification, denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) as well as the microbial community structure to investigate nitrogen fate and hence removal under two different temperature conditions (2 °C and 15 °C) in the presence of four distinct plant species. The results indicate that lower nitrification rates (reduced by a factor of 4) coupled with potential media NH4+ desorption could be contributing to reduced NH4+ removal during cold conditions. Planting with species exhibiting good nutrient uptake capacity can reduce the extent of this performance decline. While NO3− reduction generally remains problematic during cold weather (<0 to 55% reduction), which may not be significantly different from warmer periods, the study demonstrated that the denitrification potential and gene abundance (nap, nar, NirS, norB, nosZ) to be higher than those of nitrification (amoA). Denitrification may not proceeding at optimal rates due to lack of conducive environmental conditions. Nitrogen transformation via DNRA was found to be relatively insignificant. Future studies should investigate the potential of employing cold-resilient plant species to maintain both NH4+ and NO3− removal in cold weather conditions.
AB - Stormwater biofiltration systems (also known as biofilters, bioretention, rain gardens) are engineered nature-based solutions, which help mitigate aquatic nitrogen pollution arising from storm runoff. These systems are being increasingly used in a range of climates across the world. A decline in treatment performance is frequently observed in cold weather conditions. While plant species comprise an important design factor influencing system performance, the effect of temperature on the fate of dissolved nitrogen forms, namely ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3−), in the presence of different plant species in these systems remains unclear. A large scale laboratory experiment was undertaken that measured potential rates of nitrification, denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) as well as the microbial community structure to investigate nitrogen fate and hence removal under two different temperature conditions (2 °C and 15 °C) in the presence of four distinct plant species. The results indicate that lower nitrification rates (reduced by a factor of 4) coupled with potential media NH4+ desorption could be contributing to reduced NH4+ removal during cold conditions. Planting with species exhibiting good nutrient uptake capacity can reduce the extent of this performance decline. While NO3− reduction generally remains problematic during cold weather (<0 to 55% reduction), which may not be significantly different from warmer periods, the study demonstrated that the denitrification potential and gene abundance (nap, nar, NirS, norB, nosZ) to be higher than those of nitrification (amoA). Denitrification may not proceeding at optimal rates due to lack of conducive environmental conditions. Nitrogen transformation via DNRA was found to be relatively insignificant. Future studies should investigate the potential of employing cold-resilient plant species to maintain both NH4+ and NO3− removal in cold weather conditions.
KW - Denitrification
KW - Metagenomics
KW - Nature-based solutions
KW - Nitrification
KW - Plant-soil system
KW - Rate kinetics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128834109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154911
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154911
M3 - Article
C2 - 35364143
AN - SCOPUS:85128834109
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 831
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 154911
ER -