Role of emergent and submerged vegetation and algal communities on nutrient retention and management in a subtropical urban stormwater treatment wetland

Abstract

A 4.6-ha urban stormwater treatment wetland complex in southwest Florida has been investigated for several years to understand its nutrient retention dynamics. This study investigates the role of aquatic vegetation, both submerged vegetation (such as benthic macrophytic and algal communities) and emergent plant communities, on changes in nutrient fluxes through the wetlands. Gross and net primary productivity of water column communities and net primary productivity of emergent macrophytes were used to estimate nutrient fluxes through vegetation in these wetlands using biannual biomass, nutrient concentrations of plant material, and areal coverage data. Emergent macrophyte net primary productivity was estimated as the difference between the increase of productivity during the wet season and the loss during the dry season which, in turn, suggested approximately 0.11g-N m− 2 y− 1 and 0.09g-P m− 2 yr− 2 being removed, primarily from the soil, by emergent vegetation. Water column primary productivity accounted for a much larger flux of nutrients with approximately 39.6g-N m− 2 yr− 1 and 2.4g-P m− 2 yr− 1 retained in algal communities. These fluxes, combined with measurements in parallel studies, allowed us to develop preliminary nutrient budgets for these wetlands and identify gaps, or missing fluxes, in our models for these wetlands. The results further validated previous findings that suggested that there are large inputs of nitrogen (up to 62.3g-N m− 2 yr− 1) that are not accounted for by the pumped inflow. Additionally, management suggestions are provided to improve water quality by identifying vegetative species that are most effective at retaining nutrients.