Pollution control by wetlands

The 2nd International Symposium on Wetland Pollutant Dynamics and Control (WETPOL 2007), organised by the Department of Geography of the University of Tartu (Estonia) in co-operation with partners from the Estonian University of Life Sciences (Tartu, Estonia), Ghent University (Belgium), and the UNESCO-IHE (Delft, The Netherlands), was held 16–20 September 2007, in Tartu, Estonia. At this meeting, 140 oral presentations (including 9 keynote speeches) and 70 posters by representatives from 38 countries were presented. About half of the presentations considered purification processes in both semi-natural and constructed wetlands. The editorial paper highlights trends in studying the cycling of nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, heavy metals, and organic pollutants in wetlands, but also in the modelling of pollutant removal and the functioning of plants in the wetland environment. It also describes the WETPOL 2007 meeting, which served as the source of the selected papers, and briefly explains the main aspects of these papers.     

Moderate salinity improves the availability of soil P by regulating P-cycling microbial communities in coastal wetlands

Accelerated sea-level rise is expected to cause the salinization of freshwater wetlands, but the responses to salinity of the availability of soil phosphorus (P) and of microbial genes involved in the cycling of P remain unexplored. We conducted a field experiment to investigate the effects of salinity on P cycling by soil microbial communities and their regulatory roles on P availability in coastal freshwater and brackish wetlands. Salinity was positively correlated with P availability, with higher concentrations of labile P but lower concentrations of moderately labile P in the brackish wetland. The diversity and richness of microbial communities involved in P cycling were higher in the brackish wetland than the freshwater wetland. Salinity substantially altered the composition of the P-cycling microbial community, in which those of the brackish wetland were separated from those of the freshwater wetland. Metagenomic sequence analysis indicated that functional genes involved in the solubilization of inorganic P and the subsequent transport and regulation of P were more abundant in coastal soils. The relative abundances of most of the target genes differed between the wetlands, with higher abundances of P-solubilization (gcd and ppa) and -mineralization (phoD, phy, and ugpQ) genes and lower abundances of P-transport genes (pstB, ugpA, ugpB, ugpE, and pit) in the brackish wetland. A significant positive correlation between the concentration of labile P and the abundances of the target genes suggested that salinity may, at least in part, improve P availability by regulating the P-cycling microbial community. Our results suggest that the P-cycling microbial community abundance and P availability respond positively to moderate increases in salinity by promoting the microbial solubilization and mineralization of soil P. Changes in microbial communities and microbially mediated P cycling may represent microbial strategies to adapt to moderate salinity levels, which in turn control soil function and nutrient balance.     

Effects of plant and influent C:N:P ratio on microbial diversity in pilot-scale constructed wetlands

Microbial processes within the rhizosphere of constructed wetlands are crucial to wastewater treatment, but the relation between microbial community diversity in rhizosphere, plant growth and water quality are unclear at present. The effects of plant growth, water C:N:P ratio and their interaction on microbial diversity in the rhizosphere were studied in synthetic wastewater in planted and unplanted wetlands during three different seasons. The physiological profile of microbial community-level in each wetland was assessed using substrate utilization patterns gathered via BIOLOG? ECO plates. Plant had a significant effect on AWCD parameter, since the planted wetlands usually had a higher the total microbial activity than the unplanted over the study period. The Shannon, Simpson and McIntosh indices in the planted wetlands were apparently higher than those in the unplanted wetlands under any C:N:P ratio influent condition especially in summer. It was also shown that the unplanted wetlands have a greater shift of the interstitial microbial community than the planted at different seasons, since plant rhizospheres produce a more ecologically stable system in order to resist against shifts in microbial community composition in response to C:N:P ratio change in wastewater. Principal component analysis and clustering analysis indicated that influent C:N:P ratio would induce similar microbial species in the planted wetlands and detach them from the unplanted wetlands.     

WETLANDS AS ACCRETING SYSTEMS: NUTRIENT CYCLING IN WETLANDS

SUMMARY

The major concepts involved in nutrient cycling in wetlands are discussed using phosphorus and nitrogen as examples. The differences in nutrient cycling patterns between hydrologically contrasting wetlands, and the significance of fluctuating water levels in wetlands, are stressed. In South Africa, some research into nutrient cycling in submerged aquatic macrophyte communities has been undertaken, but very little information is available on these processes in wetlands dominated by emergent vegetation forms. Generally, the information available on nutrient cycling processes in South African wetlands is of limited applicability to the assessment of nutrient cycling in whole wetland systems. Therefore, rational wetland management strategies require further research on nutrient cycling.     

滨海湿地生态系统微生物驱动的氮循环研究进展

滨海湿地生态系统介于陆地生态系统和海洋生态系统之间,其类型多种多样,环境差异极大,微生物种类丰富。近年来,随着人为氮源的大量输入,造成滨海湿地生态系统富营养化污染问题日趋严重。本文主要总结了滨海湿地生态系统微生物驱动的固氮、硝化、反硝化、厌氧氨氧化、NO_3~-还原成铵等主要氮循环过程,并综述了通过功能基因(如nifH、amoA、hzo、nirS、nirK、nrfA)检测微生物群落多样性及其环境影响因素的相关研究,旨在更好理解微生物驱动氮循环过程以去除氮,以期为减轻富营养化和危害性藻类爆发提供科学依据。     

Microbially mediated climate feedbacks from wetland ecosystems

Wetlands are crucial nodes in the carbon cycle, emitting approximately 20% of global CH₄ while also sequestering 20%–30% of all soil carbon. Both greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon storage are driven by microbial communities in wetland soils. However, these key players are often overlooked or overly simplified in current global climate models. Here, we first integrate microbial metabolisms with biological, chemical, and physical processes occurring at scales from individual microbial cells to ecosystems. This conceptual scale-bridging framework guides the development of feedback loops describing how wetland-specific climate impacts (i.e., sea level rise in estuarine wetlands, droughts and floods in inland wetlands) will affect future climate trajectories. These feedback loops highlight knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to develop predictive models of future climates capturing microbial contributions. We propose a roadmap connecting environmental scientific disciplines to address these knowledge gaps and improve the representation of microbial processes in climate models. Together, this paves the way to understand how microbially mediated climate feedbacks from wetlands will impact future climate change.     

大兴安岭北部多年冻土区河岸森林湿地土壤性质和微生物呼吸活性特征

多年冻土区河岸森林湿地是水文、生态和生物化学过程的关键区域。本研究以河岸森林湿地及其与泥炭地的交错带土壤为对象,分析了腐殖质层和不同深度土壤理化性质、生态化学计量和微生物呼吸活性( 微生物生物量碳、基础呼吸、微生物熵和代谢熵)特征。结果表明: 与大兴安岭多年冻土区泥炭地和河岸森林湿地的交错带相比,河岸森林湿地土壤理化性质主要分异在20 cm土层以下,其总碳、总氮含量和碳磷比、氮磷比显著降低,生态化学计量特征的变化主要是由于氮含量变化引起的,说明河岸森林湿地土壤氮转移相对较快,存在氮限制;交错带湿地土壤中钠、镁、钾和钙含量主要在30 cm土层发生分异,而河岸森林湿地土壤中钠、镁、钾和钙含量主要在20 cm土层发生分异,其镁含量与土壤总碳、总氮和总磷含量显著相关,说明土壤镁含量是大兴安岭河岸森林湿地的重要营养元素;河岸森林湿地和交错带腐殖质层微生物呼吸活性高于其他层土壤,说明其易分解的碳组分含量高;河岸森林湿地和交错带土壤微生物呼吸活性与土壤理化性质、生态化学计量特征及营养元素的相关性存在差异,而河岸森林湿地土壤总氮含量与微生物呼吸活性显著相关,说明大兴安岭河岸带湿地土壤微生物活性受氮的限制。     

Thermodynamic theory explains the temperature optima of soil microbial processes and high Q10 values at low temperatures

Our current understanding of the temperature response of biological processes in soil is based on the Arrhenius equation. This predicts an exponential increase in rate as temperature rises, whereas in the laboratory and in the field, there is always a clearly identifiable temperature optimum for all microbial processes. In the laboratory, this has been explained by denaturation of enzymes at higher temperatures, and in the field, the availability of substrates and water is often cited as critical factors. Recently, we have shown that temperature optima for enzymes and microbial growth occur in the absence of denaturation and that this is a consequence of the unusual heat capacity changes associated with enzymes. We have called this macromolecular rate theory – MMRT (Hobbs et al., 2013 , ACS Chem. Biol. 8:2388). Here, we apply MMRT to a wide range of literature data on the response of soil microbial processes to temperature with a focus on respiration but also including different soil enzyme activities, nitrogen and methane cycling. Our theory agrees closely with a wide range of experimental data and predicts temperature optima for these microbial processes. MMRT also predicted high relative temperature sensitivity (as assessed by Q₁₀ calculations) at low temperatures and that Q₁₀ declined as temperature increases in agreement with data synthesis from the literature. Declining Q₁₀ and temperature optima in soils are coherently explained by MMRT which is based on thermodynamics and heat capacity changes for enzyme‐catalysed rates. MMRT also provides a new perspective, and makes new predictions, regarding the absolute temperature sensitivity of ecosystems – a fundamental component of models for climate change.     

红树林湿地硫酸盐还原菌的多样性及其参与驱动的元素耦合机制

红树林生态系统是热带和亚热带地区重要的滨海湿地,具有营养物质形态多样化和高效动态变化的特征,是驱动碳、氮、硫等元素循环的热区。硫酸盐还原菌(sulfate-reducing prokaryotes,SRPs)是地球最古老的微生物生命形式之一,在推动早期地球地质演化以及现代生物地球化学循环中发挥关键作用,但其在红树林湿地还缺乏全面深入研究。本文基于Genome Taxonomy Database中原核生物基因组的挖掘,系统总结了硫酸盐还原菌的类群,梳理了近年来国内外红树林中硫酸盐还原菌的分布情况及影响其分布的因素,分析了硫酸盐还原菌在红树林生态系统的碳、氮、硫及铁等元素地球化学循环中的作用,并对硫酸盐还原菌未来的研究方向进行了展望,以期为深入研究硫酸盐还原菌参与驱动的元素生物地球化学循环及其耦合机制提供参考。     

湿地氮素传输过程研究进展

综述了湿地氮素传输过程的研究进展。湿地氮素传输过程包括物理过程、化学过程和生物过程 ,与土壤、植物的发生、发育紧密联系在一起 ,并形成了空气 -水 -土 -生命系统中物质循环和能量流动的复杂网络。湿地硝态氮的淋失直接威胁着湿地地下水水质安全 ,N2 O源汇转变受土壤和水体等环境因子的制约 ,氨挥发则与水体 p H值密切相关排放。湿地氮素的化学转化过程是矿质养分供给和 N2 O产生的主要机制 ,受环境因子和人类活动干扰的影响 ;动力学模型可用于描述氮素的化学转化过程。湿地植物的吸收和累积以及微生物的分解过程是湿地氮素循环的重要环节。最后分析了当前国内外研究中存在的不足 ,并对未来研究的重点领域进行了展望     

Hydrophobic substances induce water stress in microbial cells

Ubiquitous noxious hydrophobic substances, such as hydrocarbons, pesticides and diverse industrial chemicals, stress biological systems and thereby affect their ability to mediate biosphere functions like element and energy cycling vital to biosphere health. Such chemically diverse compounds may have distinct toxic activities for cellular systems; they may also share a common mechanism of stress induction mediated by their hydrophobicity. We hypothesized that the stressful effects of, and cellular adaptations to, hydrophobic stressors operate at the level of water : macromolecule interactions. Here, we present evidence that: (i) hydrocarbons reduce structural interactions within and between cellular macromolecules, (ii) organic compatible solutes – metabolites that protect against osmotic and chaotrope-induced stresses – ameliorate this effect, (iii) toxic hydrophobic substances induce a potent form of water stress in macromolecular and cellular systems, and (iv) the stress mechanism of, and cellular responses to, hydrophobic substances are remarkably similar to those associated with chaotrope-induced water stress. These findings suggest that it may be possible to devise new interventions for microbial processes in both natural environments and industrial reactors to expand microbial tolerance of hydrophobic substances, and hence the biotic windows for such processes.     

积雪和冻结土壤系统中的微生物碳排放和碳氮循环的季节性特征

土壤微生物作为生态系统中重要的分解者,在对动植物残体以及土壤有机质降解的过程中,一方面释放CO2到大气中,是土壤碳排放的重要组成部分;另一方面,在分解的过程中,形成了可供给植物利用的无机养分.由于温度对代谢活动的直接影响,过去对微生物代谢的研究主要集中在生长季,通常假设冬季土壤微生物的活力可以忽略.陆地表面近60％的区域经历着季节性积雪覆盖和季节性土壤冻结的影响.近年来的研究表明,由于积雪的覆盖,形成很好的绝缘层,雪被下土壤中微生物仍然具有显著的活性,对土壤碳排放和植物的养分吸收具有重要的贡献.本文就积雪和冻结土壤系统中的微生物碳排放和碳氮循环的季节性特征进行了全面的分析,综述了国内外冬季雪下碳氮循环的研究现状,提出了目前研究中存在的问题和未来的研究方向,强调了开展温带冬季雪下土壤微生物碳氮循环研究的必要性和重要性.     

Elevated nitrate enriches microbial functional genes for potential bioremediation of complexly contaminated sediments

Nitrate is an important nutrient and electron acceptor for microorganisms, having a key role in nitrogen (N) cycling and electron transfer in anoxic sediments. High-nitrate inputs into sediments could have a significant effect on N cycling and its associated microbial processes. However, few studies have been focused on the effect of nitrate addition on the functional diversity, composition, structure and dynamics of sediment microbial communities in contaminated aquatic ecosystems with persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Here we analyzed sediment microbial communities from a field-scale in situ bioremediation site, a creek in Pearl River Delta containing a variety of contaminants including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), before and after nitrate injection using a comprehensive functional gene array (GeoChip 4.0). Our results showed that the sediment microbial community functional composition and structure were markedly altered, and that functional genes involved in N-, carbon (C)-, sulfur (S)-and phosphorus (P)- cycling processes were highly enriched after nitrate injection, especially those microorganisms with diverse metabolic capabilities, leading to potential in situ bioremediation of the contaminated sediment, such as PBDE and PAH reduction/degradation. This study provides new insights into our understanding of sediment microbial community responses to nitrate addition, suggesting that indigenous microorganisms could be successfully stimulated for in situ bioremediation of POPs in contaminated sediments with nitrate addition.     

Ecosystem consequences of herbicides: the role of microbiome

Non-target organisms are globally exposed to herbicides. While many herbicides – for example, glyphosate – were initially considered safe, increasing evidence demonstrates that they have profound effects on ecosystem functions via altered microbial communities. We provide a comprehensive framework on how herbicide residues may modulate ecosystem-level outcomes via alteration of microbiomes. The changes in soil microbiome are likely to influence key nutrient cycling and plant–soil processes. Herbicide-altered microbiome affects plant and animal performance and can influence trophic interactions such as herbivory and pollination. These changes are expected to lead to ecosystem and even evolutionary consequences for both microbes and hosts. Tackling the threats caused by agrochemicals to ecosystem functions and services requires tools and solutions based on a comprehensive understanding of microbe-mediated risks.     

Soil amendments promote denitrification in restored wetlands

Wetlands perform important ecosystem functions, including improvement of water quality through the process of denitrification. To offset the negative environmental impact of replacing wetlands with agriculture and development, the United States has a policy requiring that losses in wetland area are compensated for through wetland restoration elsewhere. However, these restored wetlands may require decades to achieve functional equivalency to natural wetlands. We evaluated the efficacy of using carbon amendments during restoration to promote denitrification potential in four restored wetlands in central New York State, United States. The amendments were straw, topsoil, and biochar, chosen to range along a gradient of carbon lability. Soil samples collected 6 years after restoration were analyzed for denitrification potential and associated soil properties, including soil carbon and nitrogen, pH, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, carbon lability, and potential net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification. Compared to unamended control plots, denitrification potential was approximately 3 times higher in straw‐amended plots, 8 times higher in topsoil‐amended plots, and 11 times higher in biochar‐amended plots. Denitrification potential positively correlated with both soil organic carbon and microbial biomass nitrogen, suggesting that the use of soil amendments in restorations can help stimulate the development of denitrification potential by facilitating the suite of carbon and nitrogen cycling processes that underlie this function. However, denitrification potential in a nearby natural reference wetland was at least 50 times higher than it was in the restored wetland plots, highlighting the limitations of using wetland restoration to compensate for the loss of natural wetlands.     

Arctic Ocean microbial community structure before and after the 2007 record sea ice minimum

Increasing global temperatures are having a profound impact in the Arctic, including the dramatic loss of multiyear sea ice in 2007 that has continued to the present. The majority of life in the Arctic is microbial and the consequences of climate-mediated changes on microbial marine food webs, which are responsible for biogeochemical cycling and support higher trophic levels, are unknown. We examined microbial communities over time by using high-throughput sequencing of microbial DNA collected between 2003 and 2010 from the subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) layer of the Beaufort Sea (Canadian Arctic). We found that overall this layer has freshened and concentrations of nitrate, the limiting nutrient for photosynthetic production in Arctic seas, have decreased. We compared microbial communities from before and after the record September 2007 sea ice minimum and detected significant differences in communities from all three domains of life. In particular, there were significant changes in species composition of Eukarya, with ciliates becoming more common and heterotrophic marine stramenopiles (MASTs) accounting for a smaller proportion of sequences retrieved after 2007. Within the Archaea, Marine Group I Thaumarchaeota, which earlier represented up to 60% of the Archaea sequences in this layer, have declined to <10%. Bacterial communities overall were less diverse after 2007, with a significant decrease of the Bacteroidetes. These significant shifts suggest that the microbial food webs are sensitive to physical oceanographic changes such as those occurring in the Canadian Arctic over the past decade.     

冻融交替对土壤氮素循环关键过程的影响与机制研究进展

冻融交替是由于季节或昼夜热量的变化,在表土及以下一定深度形成的反复冻结和解冻的过程,是普遍存在于中、高纬度及高海拔地区的一种自然现象。在全球变暖的背景下,部分地区的土壤环境将经受更广泛和频繁的冻融交替作用,这将对土壤氮素循环关键过程产生深远的影响。冻融交替主要通过改变土壤的理化性质使土壤微生物量、微生物群落的组成和结构发生改变,进而影响氮素在土壤中的迁移与转化,是陆地生态系统氮循环的重要影响因素。目前,关于冻融交替对土壤氮素循环关键过程影响的研究结果还不尽一致,其影响机制尚不明晰,研究方法也还有待进一步创新。重点论述了冻融交替对土壤氮素循环各个关键过程的影响效应,归纳总结了冻融交替对土壤氮素循环的影响机制,简要指出了目前研究过程中存在的一些不足,并对未来研究中值得重点关注和深入研究的科学问题进行了探讨与展望。     

三江源地区高寒湿地土壤微生物生物量碳氮磷及其化学计量特征

微生物生物量及其化学计量特征是土壤养分循环的重要参数, 对预测气候变化和提高模型准确性及理解陆地生态系统养分循环都起到重要作用。为了明晰高寒生态系统土壤微生物生物量碳(MBC)、微生物生物量氮(MBN)、微生物生物量磷(MBP)浓度及其化学计量特征, 该研究通过在三江源区高寒湿地连续两年的野外调查和室内培养, 分析了50个样点的数据, 探究三江源高寒湿地MBC、MBN、MBP浓度及其化学计量特征, 明确了土壤理化特性和微生物群落特征对其影响。结果表明: (1)三江源高寒湿地MBC、MBN和MBP浓度分别为105.11、3.79和0.78 mmol·kg^-1, MBC:MBN、MBC:MBP、MBN:MBP和MBC:MBN:MBP分别为50.56、184.89、5.42和275:5:1。高寒湿地土壤的MBC浓度显著高于高寒草甸土壤, 而MBN和MBP浓度在高寒湿地和高寒草甸土壤之间没有显著差异; 高寒湿地土壤的MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP显著高于高寒草甸土壤, 而MBN:MBP在高寒湿地和高寒草甸土壤之间差异不显著。(2)土壤理化特性与MBC、MBN和MBP浓度具有显著相关性。土壤含水率与MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP存在显著负相关关系, 而土壤密度与MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP浓度存在显著正相关关系, 土壤全氮含量和MBC:MBP存在显著负相关关系, 而与MBC:MBN的相关关系不显著。土壤理化特性对MBN:MBP的影响不显著。(3)整体而言, 微生物群落结构与MBC、MBN和MBP浓度之间存在显著的相关性。微生物群落结构和MBC:MBN、MBC:MBP的关系是相似的, 总磷脂脂肪酸(PLFA)含量、革兰氏阳性菌、革兰氏阴性菌、细菌、放线菌、丛枝菌根真菌浓度和其他PLFA含量与MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP存在显著负相关关系, 而真菌:细菌与MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP之间存在显著正相关关系, 真菌浓度与MBC:MBN和MBC:MBP之间的相关关系不显著。除丛枝菌根真菌外, MBN:MBP与微生物群落结构均无显著相关关系。     

Elevated temperature shifts soil N cycling from microbial immobilization to enhanced mineralization,nitrification and denitrification across global terrestrial ecosystems

We assessed the response of soil microbial nitrogen (N) cycling and associated functional genes to elevated temperature at the global scale. A meta‐analysis of 1,270 observations from 134 publications indicated that elevated temperature decreased soil microbial biomass N and increased N mineralization rates, both in the presence and absence of plants. These findings infer that elevated temperature drives microbially mediated N cycling processes from dominance by anabolic to catabolic reaction processes. Elevated temperature increased soil nitrification and denitrification rates, leading to an increase in N₂O emissions of up to 227%, whether plants were present or not. Rates of N mineralization, denitrification and N₂O emission demonstrated significant positive relationships with rates of CO₂ emissions under elevated temperatures, suggesting that microbial N cycling processes were associated with enhanced microbial carbon (C) metabolism due to soil warming. The response in the abundance of relevant genes to elevated temperature was not always consistent with changes in N cycling processes. While elevated temperature increased the abundances of the nirS gene with plants and nosZ genes without plants, there was no effect on the abundances of the ammonia‐oxidizing archaea amoA gene, ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria amoA and nirK genes. This study provides the first global‐scale assessment demonstrating that elevated temperature shifts N cycling from microbial immobilization to enhanced mineralization, nitrification and denitrification in terrestrial ecosystems. These findings infer that elevated temperatures have a profound impact on global N cycling processes with implications of a positive feedback to global climate and emphasize the close linkage between soil microbial C and N cycling.     

湿地甲烷代谢对氮输入响应的复杂性及其机制分析

氮素是影响湿地甲烷代谢过程的重要因素之一。氮输入是否影响湿地甲烷排放,增加全球气候变暖的风险,一直受到科学界的高度关注。目前关于氮输入对湿地甲烷排放影响的几篇meta-analysis文章的主要结论均为氮输入促进湿地甲烷排放,但是多篇研究性论文的结果为氮输入抑制或不影响湿地甲烷排放,由此可见氮输入对湿地甲烷排放的影响十分复杂。湿地甲烷代谢包括湿地甲烷产生、氧化和传输过程以及最终的甲烷排放,综述不同形态氮输入对水稻田、内陆湿地和滨海湿地甲烷排放通量影响的复杂性;分析湿地甲烷产生速率和途径、甲烷好氧氧化和硝酸盐/亚硝酸盐型厌氧甲烷氧化对不同形态氮输入的响应及机制。硝态氮输入对湿地甲烷产生具有抑制作用已成共识,然而其它形态氮输入对湿地土壤甲烷产生的影响具有较大的不确定性,氮输入影响湿地甲烷产生的机制主要包括电子受体-底物竞争机制、离子毒性机制、促进植物生长-碳底物供给增加机制以及pH调控机制等。氮输入对湿地好氧甲烷氧化影响的研究多集中在水稻田和泥炭湿地,影响的结果包括促进、抑制或影响不显著;氮输入促进湿地土壤硝酸盐/亚硝酸盐型厌氧甲烷氧化。着重分析氮输入对湿地甲烷代谢影响不确定性的成因,指出...