Mitigation of urbanization effects on aquatic ecosystems by synchronous ecological restoration

WATER RESEARCH

卷:204

Article

Fu, Hong^1,2,10  Gauzere, Pierre³  Molinos, Jorge Garcia^4,5  Zhang, Peiyu¹  Zhang, Huan¹  Zhang, Min⁶  Niu, Yuan⁷  Yu, Hui⁷  Brown, Lee E.^2,8  Xu, Jun^1,9 

[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hydrobiol, State Key Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol China, Donghu Expt Stn Lake Ecosyst, 7 Donghu South Rd, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R China

[2] Univ Leeds, Sch Geog, Leeds, W Yorkshire, England

[3] Arizona State Univ, Sch Life Sci, Macrosysterns Ecol Lab, Phoenix, AZ USA

[4] Hokkaido Univ, Arctic Res Ctr, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

[5] Hokkaido Univ, Grad Sch Environm Sci, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

[6] Huazhong Agr Univ, Coll Fisheries, Freshwater Aquaculture Collaborat Innovat Ctr Hub, Hubei Prov Engn Lab Pond Aquaculture, Wuhan, Peoples R China

[7] Chinese Res Inst Environm Sci, Inst Lake Environm & Ecol, Natl Engn Lab Lake Pollut Control & Ecol Restorat, Beijing 100012, Peoples R China

[8] Univ Leeds, Water Leeds, Leeds, W Yorkshire, England

[9] Hainan Univ, State Key Lab Marine Resource Utilizat South Chin, Haikou, Hainan, Peoples R China

[10] Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China

关键词: Ecosystem degradation;    Wastewater treatment;    Pollution;    Macroinvertebrates;    Water quality;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.watres.2021.117587

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss have been caused by economic booms in developing countries over recent decades. In response, ecosystem restoration projects have been advanced in some countries but the effectiveness of different approaches and indicators at large spatio-temporal scales (i.e., whole catchments) remains poorly understood. This study assessed the effectiveness of a diverse array of 440 aquatic restoration projects including wastewater treatment, constructed wetlands, plant/algae salvage and dredging of contaminated sediments implemented and maintained from 2007 to 2017 across more than 2000 km(2) of the northwest Taihu basin (Yixing, China). Synchronized investigations of water quality and invertebrate communities were conducted before and after restoration. Our analysis showed that even though there was rapid urbanization at this time, nutrient concentrations (NH4+-N, TN, TP) and biological indices of benthic invertebrate (taxonomic richness, Shannon diversity, sensitive taxon density) improved significantly across most of the study area. Improvements were associated with the type of restoration project, with projects targeting pollution-sources leading to the clearest ecosystem responses compared with those remediating pollution sinks. However, in some locations, the recovery of biotic communities appears to lag behind nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus), likely reflecting long-distance re-colonization mutes for invertebrates given the level of pre-restoration degradation of the catchment. Overall, the study suggests that ecological damage caused by recent rapid economic development in China could potentially be mitigated by massive restoration investments synchronized across whole catchments, although these effects could be expected to be enhanced if urbanization rates were reduced at the same time.

【 授权许可】

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