Decreases in ammonia volatilization in response to greater plant diversity in microcosms of constructed wetlands

Abstract

Ammonia volatilization from wastewaters with a high concentration of ammonium is a serious environmental and health problem. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely used for treating wastewater, and plant diversity clearly improves some functions of ecosystem such as nitrogen removal. However, whether plant diversity can affect ammonia volatilization from wastewater is still unknown. In this study, we conducted a microcosm experiment with different plant diversity treatments using four plant species. Results showed that, (1) ammonia volatilization decreased with increasing plant species richness; (2) ammonia volatilization from systems containing Rumex japonicus was lower than other systems; and (3) ammonia volatilization was affected more by species composition than species richness. This paper is the first to report that ammonia volatilization is reduced by plant diversity, and that some plant species combinations are important to reduce ammonia volatilization from CWs when treating wastewater.