Evaluation of ecological impacts with ferrous iron addition in constructed wetland under perfluorooctanoic acid stress

Abstract

In this study, ferrous ion (Fe(II)) had the potential to promote ecological functions in constructed wetlands (CWs) under perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) stress. Concretely, Fe(II) at 30 mg/L and 20–30 mg/L even led to 11.37% increase of urease and 93.15–243.61% increase of nitrite oxidoreductase respectively compared to the control. Fe(II) promotion was also observed on Nitrosomonas, Nitrospira, Azospira, and Zoogloea by 1.00–6.50 folds, which might result from higher expression of nitrogen fixation and nitrite redox genes. These findings could be explanation for increase of ammonium removal by 7.47–8.75% with Fe(II) addition, and reduction of nitrate accumulation with 30 mg/L Fe(II). Meanwhile, both Fe(II) stimulation on PAOs like Dechloromonas, Rhodococcus, Mesorhizobium, and Methylobacterium by 1.58–2.00 folds, and improvement on chemical phosphorus removal contributed to higher total phosphorus removal efficiency under high-level PFOA exposure. Moreover, Fe(II) raised chlorophyll content and reduced the oxidative damage brought by PFOA, especially at lower dosage. Nevertheless, combination of Fe(II) and high-level PFOA caused inhibition on microbial alpha diversity, which could result in decline of PFOA removal (by 4.29–12.83%). Besides, decrease of genes related to nitrate reduction demonstrated that enhancement on denitrification was due to nitrite reduction to N2 pathways rather than the first step of denitrifying process.