Elemental composition of native wetland plants in constructed mesocosm treatment wetlands
Beverly S. Collins, Rebecca R. Sharitz, Daniel P. Coughlin
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, PO Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
Received
30 June 2004; received in revised form 30 July 2004; accepted 5 August
2004
Available online 29 September 2004
Abstract
Plants that accumulate a small percentage of metals in constructed treatment
wetlands can contribute to remediation of acidic, metal contaminated runoff
waters from coal mines or processing areas. We examined root and shoot
concentrations of elements in four perennial wetland species over two
seasons in mesocosm wetland systems designed to remediate water from a
coal pile runoff basin. Deep wetlands in each system contained Myriophyllum
aquaticum and Nymphaea odorata; shallow wetlands contained
Juncus effusus and Pontederia cordata. Shoot elemental
concentrations differed between plants of deep and shallow wetlands, with
higher Zn, AI, and Fe concentrations in plants in shallow wetlands and
higher Na, Mn, and P concentrations in plants in deep wetlands. Root and
shoot concentrations of most elements differed between species in each
wetland type. Over two seasons, these four common wetland plants did help
remediate acidic, metal-contaminated runoff from a coal storage pile.
Keywords: Constructed treatment wetlands; Acid coal runoff; Planted
treatment wetlands
SREL Reprint #2810
Collins, B. S., R. R. Sharitz and D. P. Coughlin. 2005. Elemental composition of native wetland plants in constructed mesocosm treatment wetlands. Bioresource Technology 96:937-948.
