The use of constructed wetland for mitigating nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff: a review

Li, J., Zheng, B., Chen, X., Li, Z., Xia, Q., Huang, H., Yang, Y., Zhou, Y. and Yang, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9940-8273 (2021) The use of constructed wetland for mitigating nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff: a review. Water, 13 (4). 476. ISSN 2073-4441 doi: 10.3390/w13040476

Abstract/Summary

The loss of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers in agricultural runoff is a global environmental problem, attracting worldwide attention. In the last decades, the constructed wetland has been increasingly used for mitigating the loss of nitrogen and phosphate from agricultural runoff, while the substrate, plants, and wetland structure design remain far from clearly understood. In this paper, the optimum substrates and plant species were identified by reviewing their treatment capacity from the related studies. Specifically, the top three suitable substrates are gravel, zeolite, and slag. In terms of the plant species, emergent plants are the most widely used in the constructed wetlands. Eleocharis dulcis, Typha orientalis, and Scirpus validus are the top three optimum emergent plant species. Submerged plants (Hydrilla verticillata, Ceratophyllum demersum, and Vallisneria natans), free-floating plants (Eichhornia crassipes and Lemna minor), and floating-leaved plants (Nymphaea tetragona and Trapa bispinosa) are also promoted. Moreover, the site selection methods for constructed wetland were put forward. Because the existing research results have not reached an agreement on the controversial issue, more studies are still needed to draw a clear conclusion of effective structure design of constructed wetlands. This review has provided some recommendations for substrate, plant species, and site selections for the constructed wetlands to reduce nutrients from agricultural runoff.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/96215
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/w13040476
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Publisher	MDPI
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