Ecological Engineering最新文献

Agriculture is a major driver of land-use change and nutrient leaching worldwide, promoting eutrophication of surface water bodies. A frequent strategy to reduce nutrient external loads is the maintenance or re-establishment of riparian zones. We conducted a year-long, in situ monitoring of surface and subsurface water in three buffer zones (grassland, shrubland, forest) and adjacent croplands around the major water reservoir in Uruguay to assess runoff dynamics and nutrient potential reduction across different precipitation levels. All three buffer zones delayed surface runoff by twofold, yielding lower runoff than croplands. Also, they effectively retained phosphate (P-PO₄) loads in both surface and subsurface runoff but were less effective in reducing their concentrations. The forest achieved the highest surface water P-reduction (80%). The effect was variable for nitrate (N-NO₃), with buffers acting as either nutrient sinks or sources depending on the vegetation and runoff layer. Surface N-NO₃ loads were lower in the buffers, with a maximum reduction in grassland (∼50%), when compared to crops. In the subsurface layer, a reduction was only observed for N-NO₃ concentration in grassland (30%). Surface TP and P-PO₄ loads increased linearly with runoff rate only in the buffers, while both N-NO₃ and ammonium (N-NH₄) loads increased with runoff in both crops and buffers. Our results may indicate that riparian buffers comprised of herbaceous and woody vegetation have high phosphorus and nitrogen reduction rates, emphasizing their potential as nature-based solutions for nutrient mitigation and water storage. Future increased precipitation may, however, challenge buffer effectiveness.

This systematic review article provides a comprehensive overview of the application of nature-based solutions, specifically rain gardens, as compensatory techniques for stormwater management in various locations worldwide. A total of 53 articles, published between 2008 and 2024, were selected to identify the most utilized and advanced approaches regarding the quantitative analysis of bioretention cells for stormwater storage and infiltration. Given that this is a relatively recent topic in the context of urban drainage, with over 65% of the research published in the last five years (2020–2024), an established consensus on best construction practices, ideal materials, and suitable vegetation selection has yet to be reached. The studies are predominantly focused on temperate regions, indicating a pressing need for future investigations, particularly in tropical regions where data availability is limited. The reviewed studies highlight that the performance of rain gardens is intrinsically linked to a variety of parameters, including the confluence ratio, rainfall regime, engineering soil media composition, infiltration rate, internal layer configuration, and vegetation selection. However, despite the lack of consensus on these aspects, the analyses indicate that the implementation of rain gardens can effectively contribute to stormwater retention in urban environments. This finding suggests that, although there are gaps in the detailed understanding of the mechanisms and optimal conditions for maximum performance, there is a solid foundation for the continued use and enhancement of this practice as an effective stormwater management strategy in urban areas.

Carbon sequestration services stemming from ecosystems facilitate the absorption of CO₂ and mitigation of greenhouse effects. Thus, investigating the spatiotemporal changes of carbon sequestration services and their response patterns to human activities is essential in relation to achieving the strategic carbon peak and carbon neutrality (“double carbon”) goal in a region. In this study, the spatiotemporal carbon sequestration patterns in the upper reaches of the Yellow River from 1985 to 2020 were assessed based on measured sample points and spatial modeling combined with multi-source remote sensing data. Specifically, the impacts of human activities on the carbon sequestration services in the area were quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that, for the past 35 years, carbon sequestration in the upper reaches of the Yellow River ranged from 80.09 Tg to 98.48 Tg, with lower levels in the northeast and southwest, and higher ones in the northwest and southeast. From 1985 to 1998, carbon sequestration in the upper reaches of the Yellow River was mainly affected by the natural climate and showed a fluctuating upward trend. From 1998 to 2001, carbon sequestration declined sharply due to the influence of human activities and the natural climate, whereas it showed a significant increasing trend from 2001 to 2020, affected by the combined effects of ecological engineering and climate change. In 1998–2001, the degree of human influence was −5.92% to approximately −11.68%, and from 2001 to 2020, it was approximately 2.32% to 6.78%. This study shows that while human social development can negatively affect the carbon sequestration services of ecosystems, ecological engineering can accelerate its recovery, recovery trends and recovery endpoints are constrained by natural factors.

Organic pollution of the environment is a serious issue that affects the planet's soil, water, and air, posing a significant threat to ecosystems and living organisms. Bioremediation has emerged as a promising solution for organic soil pollution due to its low cost and simplicity. This review delves into the mechanism of bioremediation, focuses on using microorganisms in the process, and examines different technologies utilized. Additionally, the potential of genetic engineering to enhance the effectiveness of bioremediation was highlighted. Overall, it emphasizes the significance of bioremediation as a solution to organic soil pollution and provides an overview of the different approaches and technologies available. The innovation of this review is to deal with the remediation of organic soil contamination by microorganisms when introducing phytoremediation, genetic engineering methods, and technologies applied in bioremediation. The aim and the novelty are to conferan understanding and resolution for the scientific community of this global concern, which affects practically every aspect of life: agronomy, health, the environment, and the world economy. Climate change, industrialization, and population increase will make bioremediation critical and crucial in the upcoming century. The difference between this work and others is that it provides the reader with a complete tool for understanding all aspects and mechanisms of bioremediation.

There is large-scale deep soil desiccation in the Loess Plateau due to excessive vegetation rehabilitation over the years. It is the key to soil desiccation in the Loess Plateau in response to the lingering concern about the role of plant reintroduced and water restoration in areas with deep soil desiccation. However, not much studies have been done to address this deepening concern. To that end, large field soil columns were used to simulate dry soil and measure dynamic soil water changes in the 0–10 m soil layer under different mulching treatments. The results showed that under severe desiccation of deep soil layer, reintroduced plants relied on local rainfall for normal growth. Here, a new soil water balance emerged in the dry soil layer due to the different water uses of the reintroduced plants. Generally, deep-rooted perennial plants induced severe soil desiccation. Surface mulching treatments strongly influenced soil water restoration, with restoration rates of 23.5 cm/season for stone mulching, 23.5 cm/season for tree branch mulching, 38.8 cm/season for cloth mulching and 30.6 cm/season for white plastic film mulching. The findings of the study are critical for sustainable ecological construction especially as it relates to soil water restoration in Hilly Loess China.

Phosphorus (P) losses from drained agricultural fields are a major cause of eutrophication. In this study, we evaluated the performance of three types of phosphorus sorbing materials (PSMs), including P polymer sorbent pellets, designer biochar pellets, and iron shavings materials, in removing dissolved P at both laboratory and field scales. The laboratory experiments revealed the following order of P removal efficiency with initial P concentrations of 1 mg L⁻¹ and 50 mg L⁻¹: designer biochar > P polymer sorbent > iron shavings. Based on the laboratory results, the designer biochar and P polymer sorbent were considered promising PSMs, especially the designer biochar achieved excellent P removal efficiency (>90%). On the contrary, subsequent field-scale applications demonstrated another story. Field results indicated that the designer biochar pellets could reduce up to 37% dissolved P from the drainage systems during a three-month period. Unfortunately, we encountered difficulties gathering data regarding the efficacy of P polymer sorbent pellets for P removal since the pellets disintegrating into small particles and being partially washed out through the drainage pipes. This failure case shows the importance of long-term field-scale validation monitoring and improving the toughness of materials under complex changes. Overall, our study has shown the discrepancy between laboratory and field evaluation, highlighting the critical needs to refine the laboratory evaluation methods and narrow the gaps between laboratory -scale research and field-scale application.

Inadequate shoreline management might be detrimental to semiaquatic ground-dwelling taxa that utilize shorelines for migrations, basking and nesting sites. Although turtles are often associated with shorelines, limited knowledge of their climbing abilities hinders adequate management of these habitats. In this study we tested the climbing abilities of adult Emys orbicularis (N = 60) to explore the effect which artificial shorelines could have on their dispersal and habitat use. Over 90% of turtles were able to successfully climb a 36° slope. At steeper inclinations, female climbing success drastically dropped. Furthermore, climbing steeper inclinations is more time and energy consuming and might limit habitat use. Our results suggest that body size is the limiting factor of turtle climbing ability, regardless of sex. However, larger and less agile female turtles are especially susceptible to steep shorelines, since their fitness directly depends on their ability to reach favourable nesting sites. Based on our results, we suggest that slopes of artificial shorelines in European pond turtle habitats should not exceed 36° angles. Additionally, the shoreline surface should be textured (e.g. with grooves). Further studies should focus on locomotor abilities of other semiaquatic, ground-dwelling taxa (e.g. newts, toads, turtles), particularly as they pertain to obstacles around their reproductive centres.

The degradation of temperate desert type rangeland leads to decreased vegetation diversity and soil nutrients levels. Grazing prohibition and artificial revegetation are common strategies for vegetation restoration. However, it is currently unknown the duration of grazing prohibition and artificial revegetation affect soil microorganisms. Therefore, experiments on grazing prohibition duration and artificial revegetation were conducted to explore the response of soil microorganisms to these measures. Field experiments were conducted during the peak plant growth season in Guide County, China, to evaluate methods involving grazing prohibition and artificial revegetation. We established six experimental sites, which were grazing prohibition for fifteen years (P15), grazing land located near P15 (P15-CK), grazing prohibition for eight years (P8), grazing land located near P8 (P8-CK), artificial revegetation for three years (A3), and wasteland located near A3 (A3-CK). The results showed that artificial revegetation measures decreased the plant diversity, whereas grazing prohibition for eight years increased it. Artificial revegetation and grazing prohibition measures led to an increase in pH and total carbon, and a decrease in total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The amount of total PLFA increased with artificial revegetation, whereas grazing prohibition resulted in a decrease of total PLFA. Artificial revegetation and grazing prohibition measures decrease the relative abundance of the Ascomycota phylum and the fungal diversity. In addition, the study found that fungal communities were primarily influenced by soil factors such as ammonium nitrogen, pH, and total carbon, rather than by plants. Vegetation restoration enhances the accumulation of total soil carbon and alters fungal community composition and diversity. The effects of artificial revegetation and grazing prohibition measures on the amount of total PLFA varied. These findings provide important information that vegetation restoration promotes soil nutrient accumulation but reduces fungal diversity, which can inform the restoration of degraded temperate desert type rangeland.

Domestic wastewater plays a critical role in the discharge of microplastics into aquatic ecosystems. Constructed wetland systems are used to treat domestic wastewater in rural areas. This study aimed to determine the microplastic concentrations and morphological properties (shape, size, and color) of microplastics in influent, effluent, and sediment samples taken from horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland system in Denizli/Türkiye. Also, the microplastic removal efficiency was evaluated in the constructed wetland. Samples were collected during summer and winter to investigate the seasonal variations in microplastic concentrations. The findings revealed that the majority of microplastics collected in this study were fibers (winter: 67.78%, summer: 82.46%) and transparent-white colored microplastics in both periods (winter: 88%, summer: 72%). In addition, the most abundant microplastic size was obtained as 100–500 μm (winter: 92%, summer: 82%). Suspected microplastics were identified by ATR-FTIR as PES, PET, and PEVA. PEVA is the most frequently encountered type of polymer. The average removal efficiency of microplastics in summer was determined as 87.43% and in winter was 97.27%. Daily microplastic discharge from the constructed wetland was calculated as 1.365 × 10⁷ MP/day for the summer season, and 2.918 × 10⁷ MP/day for the winter season. The findings obtained in this study suggest that although the constructed wetland system adequately removes microplastics, there is a high release of microplastics in the effluent. All the data suggest that constructed wetlands are a crucial source of the release of microplastics.

Floating treatment wetlands (FTW) are an emerging Nature Based Solution that have exhibited promising nitrogen removal under different range of effluents pollutant concentrations. Despite the notable increase in the number of FTW studies in the last years, nitrogen (N) removal mechanisms within FTW have not been fully assessed. The present study aims to understand N removal in FTW and investigate their microbial biofilm activity through a pilot scale experiment for agri-food tertiary wastewater treatment. A conventional and a modified (with added cellular concrete (CC)) FTW were monitored over 7 months with respect to two control lagoons (conventional lagoons with or without CC hanging in the water column). Experimental results revealed that the best TN removal was achieved by the lagoon equipped with the modified FTW (20% mean removal increase compared to the conventional lagoon). Biofilm denitrification activity potential was up to 6.7–9.0 times higher within pilot lagoons equipped with FTW than that in control lagoon (LC without FTW), while nitrification activity potential was prominent in biofilms within the control pilot lagoons (exhibiting high dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration). Biofilms from plant roots exhibited the highest overall dissolved inorganic nitrogen treatment followed by the biofilms from sediments and CC material. Plant root biofilms exhibited both significant nitrification and denitrification activity potentials despite the overall low DO and COD concentrations within FTW pilot lagoons' water column. This suggests the existence of micro sites in the roots network which provide adequate aerobic conditions and access to organic carbon most probably through root exudates. Overall, N accumulation in the sediment was a minor removal mechanism for all pilot lagoons. Plant accumulation (accounting for one third of TN removal), nitrification and enhanced denitrification appeared to be the main removal mechanisms in pilot lagoons equipped with FTWs (with or without CC) while nitrification, algal assimilation and NH₄-N volatilization may hav-èe been the major processes driving TN removal in the control pilot lagoons. Hence, FTW could be an interesting retrofit of existing lagoons to promote nitrogen removal through denitrification and plant assimilation, especially in the case of receiving bodies highly sensitive to nitrate input. Further research should address optimizing FTW design to guarantee stable N removal under changing water temperature and mitigate seasonal variations as well as investigate biofilm species for in-depth understanding of N cycle within FTWs.