Engineering aquatic plant community composition on floating treatment wetlands can increase ecosystem...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Ecology
• Restoration Ecology

Background:

• Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are a nature-based solution for freshwater restoration.
• Designing FTWs by manipulating macrophyte communities for multiple ecosystem services is underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how macrophyte community composition, specifically plant stature, influences ecosystem multifunctionality in FTWs.
• To assess the effectiveness of different macrophyte community structures for various restoration objectives.

Main Methods:

• A tank experiment simulating polluted aquatic environments.
• Comparative ecological approach using plant stature (height) to structure emergent macrophyte communities.
• Quantification of ecosystem functions and calculation of a weighted ecosystem multifunctionality index.

Main Results:

• Ecosystem multifunctionality was higher in communities with diverse functions.
• Small emergent plant communities excelled in providing regulation, maintenance, cultural, and provisioning services.
• Large emergent communities were most effective for phytoremediation when multifunctionality was lower; mixed-stature communities performed poorly.

Conclusions:

• Plant stature is a simple, effective trait for designing FTW communities with predictable ecosystem service outcomes.
• Small emergent plants offer broader benefits, while large plants are suited for specific phytoremediation goals.
• Environmental managers should align FTW design with specific restoration objectives based on plant stature selection.