Multi-pollutant removal dynamics by aquatic plants in monoculture or mixed communities.

Much of our knowledge about the phytoremediation potential of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) comes from studies focusing on the removal of single pollutants, often by a single plant species. Here, we quantify the potential of FTWs planted with varying proportions of the emergent monocots Typha latifolia, Glyceria maxima, and Phragmites australis to simultaneously remove a suite of eleven nutrient/metalloid pollutants. Pollutants most readily removed from water included total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), K and Mn, whilst P, Zn and Cu showed a moderate removal efficiency, and Mg, Ca, Na, Cr, and Fe were poorly removed.

Engineering aquatic plant community composition on floating treatment wetlands can increase ecosystem multifunctionality.

Phytoremediation using floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) is an emerging nature-based solution for freshwater restoration. However, the potential to design these systems by manipulating macrophyte community composition to provide multiple ecosystem services remains unexplored. Using a tank experiment, we simulated aquatic environments impacted by multiple pollutants and employed a comparative ecological approach to design emergent macrophyte communities using the trait of plant stature (plant height) to structure communities.

How beavers affect riverine aquatic macroinvertebrates: a review.

Background: As ecosystem engineers, the construction of dams by beavers alters stream habitat physically and biologically, making them a species of interest for habitat restoration. Beaver-created habitat changes affect a wide range of aquatic invertebrate species. However, despite numerous individual studies of how beavers affect aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages, there has been no evaluation of the consensus of these effects across studies.

Estimating nutrient thresholds for eutrophication management: Novel insights from understudied lake types.

Nutrient targets based on pressure-response models are essential for defining ambitions and managing eutrophication. However, the scale of biogeographical variation in these pressure-response relationships is poorly understood, which may hinder eutrophication management in regions where lake ecology is less intensively studied. In this study, we derive ecology-based nutrient targets for five major ecoregions of Europe: Northern, Central-Baltic, Alpine, Mediterranean and Eastern Continental.

Establishing ecologically-relevant nutrient thresholds: A tool-kit with guidance on its use.

One key component of any eutrophication management strategy is establishment of realistic thresholds above which negative impacts become significant and provision of ecosystem services is threatened. This paper introduces a toolkit of statistical approaches with which such thresholds can be set, explaining their rationale and situations under which each is effective. All methods assume a causal relationship between nutrients and biota, but we also recognise that nutrients rarely act in isolation.