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Comprehensive assessment for removing multiple pollutants by plants in bioretention systems

  • Article
  • Environmental Science & Technology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Bioretention is a best management practice which uses vegetation to improve the pollutant removal rates in the rain water management. To select the best plant species to remove multiple pollutants in a bioretention system, we tested thirty species of plants in a laboratory in Beijing, China. We found that the ability of the plants to reduce concentrations of heavy metals including cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and ammonium (NH4 +–N) is more than 90 %. The removal efficiencies for NH4 +–N, nitrate (NO3 −–N), total phosphorus, and copper (Cu) varied markedly among plant species. The single overall best plant was not easy to be determined. To select the best plant species, we used a dynamic neural network to establish an assessment index system, assessment criteria, and an assessment model that is used here for the first time for multiple pollutants’ removal. Applying the theory and model, we discovered that Plantago asiatica L. and Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. are the overall best plants for removing the seven typical pollutants. This paper will provide a simple and useful guide for the comprehensive assessment of multiple pollutant removal by plants in complex ecological systems.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (51121003), the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB951104), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20100003110024), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51079004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Xiaohua Yang, Ying Mei, Jun He & Rong Jiang

  2. School of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Yuqi Li

  3. Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design General Institute, The Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, 100011, China

    Jianqiang Li

  4. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot, 010051, China

    Ying Mei

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  1. Xiaohua Yang
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  2. Ying Mei
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  3. Jun He
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  4. Rong Jiang
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  5. Yuqi Li
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Correspondence to Xiaohua Yang.

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Yang, X., Mei, Y., He, J. et al. Comprehensive assessment for removing multiple pollutants by plants in bioretention systems. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 1446–1453 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0200-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0200-2

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