TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological parameters of plants as indicators of water quality in a constructed wetland
AU - Shelef, Oren
AU - Golan-Goldhirsh, Avi
AU - Gendler, Tanya
AU - Rachmilevitch, Shimon
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The Southern Arava Sustainable Waste Management Plan was funded by the EU LIFE Fund. The CW were planned and designed by Eli Cohen—Ayala Water and Ecology and Yael Ben Zvi of Ofra Aqua Plants, landscape design and construction by Kibbutz Neot Smadar. We wish to thank Kibbutz Neot Smadar and staff for the opportunity to make this research.
PY - 2011/8/1
Y1 - 2011/8/1
N2 - Introduction: Increasing demand for water has stimulated efforts to treat wastewater for reuse in agriculture. Decentralized facilities for wastewater treatment became popular as a solution to remote and small communities. These systems mimic natural wetlands, cleaning wastewater as they flow through a complex of filter media, microbial fauna, and vegetation. The function of plants in constructed wetlands (CWs) has not been fully elucidated yet. Discussion: In the research reported here, we provide evidence for a new use of plant physiological parameters in CWs as bioindicators of water quality along the system. We measured improved plant performance downstream of the CW by means of photochemical efficiency, CO2 assimilation rate, and cell membrane stability. In addition, we found evidence for temporal improvement of plant performance, which was correlated to the establishment phase of plants in a newly operating CW. It is suggested that improved monitoring and management of CWs should take into planning consideration the promising potential of phyto-indicators.
AB - Introduction: Increasing demand for water has stimulated efforts to treat wastewater for reuse in agriculture. Decentralized facilities for wastewater treatment became popular as a solution to remote and small communities. These systems mimic natural wetlands, cleaning wastewater as they flow through a complex of filter media, microbial fauna, and vegetation. The function of plants in constructed wetlands (CWs) has not been fully elucidated yet. Discussion: In the research reported here, we provide evidence for a new use of plant physiological parameters in CWs as bioindicators of water quality along the system. We measured improved plant performance downstream of the CW by means of photochemical efficiency, CO2 assimilation rate, and cell membrane stability. In addition, we found evidence for temporal improvement of plant performance, which was correlated to the establishment phase of plants in a newly operating CW. It is suggested that improved monitoring and management of CWs should take into planning consideration the promising potential of phyto-indicators.
KW - Assimilation rate
KW - Cell membrane stability
KW - Constructed wetland
KW - Photochemical efficiency
KW - Phyto-indicators
KW - Plant performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79961167780&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-011-0473-9
DO - 10.1007/s11356-011-0473-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 21380534
AN - SCOPUS:79961167780
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 18
SP - 1234
EP - 1242
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 7
ER -
