Nanoplastics enhance the denitrification process and microbial interaction network in wetland soils.

With the widespread presence of plastic waste in ecosystems, it is imperative to understand the response of natural processes to micro- and nanoplastic pollution pressures. However, the effects of nanoplastics on biogeochemical cycles are still overlooked and controversial. This study investigated the effects of three particle sizes (100 µm, 7 µm, and 80 nm) of polystyrene (PS) micro/nanoplastics (0.08 % of mass concentration) on denitrification processes and nirS/nirK denitrifying bacterial communities in wetland soils. The results indicated that PS nanoplastics were found to significantly enhance denitrification rates from 21.30 to 54.73 µmol N2·h-1·kg-1, increasing by 1.57 times compared to the control. Exposure to nanoplastics caused shifts in the composition and structure of the nirS-type denitrifier community. LEfSe analysis, random forest, and Mantel tests revealed that nirS denitrifying bacteria, especially Sideroxydans, played a pivotal role in driving denitrification rates (Mantel's R = 0.24, p = 0.002), likely due to the faster release of organic substrates from nanoplastics. Microbial co-occurrence networks demonstrated that nanoplastic amendments fostered a denser denitrifier network and led to shifts in keystone species. Sideroxydans appeared more likely to cooperate with other bacteria, such as Burkholderiales, to complete denitrification processes. This study suggests that nanoplastics are a potentially stronger driver of denitrification than microplastics, providing insight into the impact of plastic pollutants on biogeochemical cycling in natural wetland ecosystems. Given the widespread distribution of wetlands, the potential increase in gaseous nitrogen emissions due to nanoplastics pollution warrants attention.

Linking fluorescent dissolved organic matters to microbial carbon metabolism in the overlying water during submerged macrophyte Potamogeton crispus L decomposition in the presence/absence of Vallisneria natans.

Multi-species submerged plants grow with succession patterns in the same habit and play an important role in the aquatic ecosystems. The decomposition of submerged plants in aquatic environments was a disturbance that affected the water quality and microbial community structures. However, the responses of the microbial community function in surface water to the disturbance remain poorly understood. In this study, the effects of submerged macrophyte Potamogeton crispus L decomposition on the water quality and microbial carbon metabolism functions (MCMF) in the overlying water were investigated in the presence/absence of Vallisneria natans. The result showed that the decomposition rapidly released a large amount of organic matter and nutrients into the overlying water. The presence of Vallisneria natans promoted the removal of dissolved organic carbon and fluorescent component C3, resulting in lower values of the percentage content of C3 (C3%). Under various decomposition processes, the MCMF changed over time and significantly negatively correlated with C3%. The functional diversity of MCMF significantly correlated with the fluorescence organic matters, such as the richness and Simpson index correlated with the amount of C1, C1+C2+C3, and C3%. But UV-visible absorption indexes and nutrients in the overlying water had no relationship with the MCMF, except for the total nitrogen correlated with the richness. These results suggested that under various decomposition conditions, the fluorescent dissolved organic matter could be used as an indicator for quick prediction of MCMF in surface water.

An assessment of the purification performance and resilience of sponge-based aerobic biofilm reactors for treating polluted urban surface waters.

Pollutants are continuously released into surface waters, which decrease the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and leads to the formation of black-odorous water, especially in slow-flowing urban lakes and enclosed small ponds. In situ treatment by artificial aeration or water cycling, coupled with biofilm, can address this problem without occupying large amounts of land. In this study, we designed a novel sponge-based aerobic biofilm reactor (SABR) and evaluated its performance in purifying urban surface water under different conditions. In the urban lake water treatment, the continuous inflow results revealed that the NH4+-N and NO2--N concentrations in the effluent were stable and remained lower than 0.10 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L, respectively. Abrupt increases in the NH4+-N and NO2--N concentrations in the influent and sudden increases in the NH4+-N and NO2--N concentrations in the effluent were observed, and only 4 to 8 days were required for the concentrations to decline below 0.10 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L, respectively. Increases in the polyurethane sponge filling ratios in the SABRs can reduce the DO concentration but do not affect NH4+-N removal. When no biodegradable organic matter was present in the enclosed surface water, the degradation time of NH4+-N from 14.22 to 0.10 mg/L was only 9 days when SABRs were combined with water cycling, which was shorter than the time needed by water cycling alone (16 days), and most of the NH4+-N was converted to NO3--N. When massive amounts of biodegradable organic matter were present in the enclosed surface water, 22 days were required to remove the NH4+-N when SABRs were combined with water cycling. Our results indicated that organic matter could be used as a carbon source to eliminate the produced NO3--N in SABRs. Therefore, the newly developed bioreactor provides an effective approach for treating N-polluted urban surface waters.

Comparing the effects of algae and macrophyte residues' degradation on biological nitrogen fixation in freshwater lake sediments.

The degradation and mineralization of organic residues are important factors that drive biochemical processes in lake ecosystems. However, the effect of organic matter's degradation on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in freshwater lake sediments remains poorly understood. This study investigated the response of sediment nitrogen fixation to the degradations of algae and macrophyte residues through continuous flow mesocosms combined with nifH sequencing analysis and isotope tracing. The results suggested that the active nitrogen fixation of sediments only occurred in the first two weeks of the rapid degradation of organic residues. Degradation of algae and macrophytes residues quickly increased the nifH abundance and the nitrogenase activity (NA) in sediments; however, the maximum NA triggered by algae's degradation (658.2 ± 16.8 ng g-1 day-1) was six times higher than that induced by the degradation of macrophytes residues. There was no significant difference in NA of sediments with the degradation of Potamogeton and Phragmites. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the variation of diazotrophic community in sediment was significantly (p < 0.01) correlated with the concentrations of SO42- and NH4+ in overlying water and the Fe(II) content and Eh in sediment. Overall, the BNF of sediments can quickly respond to the degradation of organic residues, and the degradation of algae has a stronger promoting effect on the nitrogen fixation in sediments than that of macrophyte residues.