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Effect of Ferrous Iron Addition on Ammonium Nitrogen Removal and Microbial Communities in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands

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Abstract

This study explored the influence of ferrous iron (Fe2+) addition on ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) removal and microbial communities in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSFs) at different carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios. Fe2+ addition could improve NH4-N removal under the C/N ratio of 2.1 and alter the microbial community structure. The microbial diversity and functional genes at the C/N ratio of 2.1 were enhanced by the addition of 50 mg/L Fe2+, with the increases observed in NH4-N and total nitrogen (TN) removal. This indicates the enhancement of nitrogen removal by Fe2+ addition with the presence of high organic matter. However, the enhancement of Fe2+ on chemical oxygen demand removal was not obvious overall. The relative abundance of functional genes and those related to energy metabolism, xenobiotic biodegradation, and metabolism decreased significantly in HSSFs with Fe2+ at C/N ratio of 1.1, whereas they increased in HSSFs with the addition of 50 mg/L Fe2+ at C/N ratio of 2.1.

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Acknowledgements

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41501520), the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Foundation of Shandong Academy of Agriculture Sciences, China (No. CXGC2016A08), and the Construction of Subjects and Teams of Institute of Poultry Science of Shandong Academy of Agriculture Sciences, China (CXGC2018E11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Poultry Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science, No. 1 Jiaoxiao Road, Jinan, 250023, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Zhang, Chunyan Fu, Jiaqiang Wu, Tianhong Shi & Xuelan Liu

  2. Shandong Engineering Laboratory of Wetland and Eco-Agriculture, Shandong Institute of Agricultural Sustainable Development, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Xinhua Li & Hongyun Dong

  3. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Baixing Yan

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  1. Yan Zhang
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  2. Chunyan Fu
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Correspondence to Xuelan Liu.

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Highlights

• Fe2+ addition could improve the capability of ammonium nitrogen removal at the C/N ratio of 2.1 in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands.

• Fe2+ addition enhanced bacterial community diversity in constructed wetlands, and also increased the relative abundance of functional genes at C/N ratio of 2.1.

• The Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis were used in the paper.

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Zhang, Y., Fu, C., Li, X. et al. Effect of Ferrous Iron Addition on Ammonium Nitrogen Removal and Microbial Communities in Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands. Wetlands 40, 2109–2121 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01343-z

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