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Response of the microbial community to salt stress and its stratified effect in constructed wetlands

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Abstract

Nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands (CWs) may be inhibited by salinity. The clarification of the response of microbial community to salt stress is a premise for developing strategies to improve nitrogen removal efficiency in CWs under saline conditions. Results showed that the ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N), and total nitrogen (TN) removal percentages significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in CWs with increasing salinity. The structure and abundance of the microbial community varied with different salinity levels and sampling depths in CWs. Compared with a non-saline condition, the abundances of some bacteria with a denitrification function (e.g., Arthrobacter) significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in CWs under saline conditions (i.e., EC of 15 and 30 mS/cm). Aerobic bacteria (e.g., Sphingomonas) exhibited more abundance in soil and upper gravel samples in CWs than those in bottom gravel samples, while the abundance of some denitrifying bacteria (e.g., Thauera and Azoarcus) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in bottom gravel samples compared with soil and upper gravel samples, respectively. This study provides both microbiological evidence for explaining the impact of salt stress on nitrogen removal in CWs and scientific reference for developing enhanced strategies to improve the nitrogen removal capacity of CWs.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Environmental Protection Project of Ecology and Environment Department of Jilin Province (No. 2018-06), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC0500404-4) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2017274).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, China

    Xinyi Wang, Hui Zhu, Baixing Yan & Rui Cheng

  2. Jilin Provincial Engineering Center of CWs Design in Cold Region & Beautiful Country Construction, Changchun, 130102, China

    Xinyi Wang, Hui Zhu, Baixing Yan & Rui Cheng

  3. Department of Natural Sciences, Middlesex University, Hendon, London, NW4 4BT, UK

    Brian Shutes

  4. USDA, Agricultural Research Service, San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, 9611 South Riverbend Avenue, Parlier, CA, 93648-9757, USA

    Gary Bañuelos

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  1. Xinyi Wang
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  4. Brian Shutes
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  6. Rui Cheng
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Contributions

XW carried out all experiments and drafted the manuscript. HZ (corresponding author) is responsible for this study, participated its design, and helped to draft the manuscript. BY, BS, and GB provided technical and theoretical support. RC executed the experiments, analyzed all data, and produced figures. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hui Zhu.

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Wang, X., Zhu, H., Yan, B. et al. Response of the microbial community to salt stress and its stratified effect in constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 18089–18101 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11937-z

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