Stabilization of eroding estuarine shorelines using living shoreline techniques, including native vegetation and nearshore structural components, has the potential to combat erosion while increasing shoreline ecotone function. However, there are few detailed field studies and little quantitative data available to assess hydrodynamic changes that occur immediately following living shoreline implementation

To valorise winery treated wastewater and to produce suitable water for the irrigation of vineyards, or other factory operations, the WETWINE project set up a combination of a hydrolytic up-flow sludge blanket (HUSB) reactor and constructed wetlands (CW). The WETWINE plant is located in Tomiño (Pontevedra, Spain) and is being validated at the demo-scale at Santiago Ruiz Winery (NW Spain). The plant

Eutrophication has emerged as one of the main threats to surface water bodies. The parameters for assessing eutrophication are not generally measured regularly from the lakes of India as part of monitoring programmes and it is necessary to express the trophic status in terms of secondary indicator variables that are included in the routine analysis by the State/Central government. In this paper, the

In the last decades, soil bioengineering has gained considerable popularity worldwide, especially in hillslope, riverbank, and earth embankment stabilisation works. The use of plants as a building material transfers the plant multifunctionality within engineering structures and meets the demand rising from society for more environmental-friendly approaches to structure design. In addition, soil bioengineering

Plant communities and water chemistry properties were characterized at Sandhill Wetland; an experimental reclamation site constructed above a backfilled open pit mine in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Observations from the reclamation site were compared to 12 mature reference wetlands (10 fens and 2 marshes) to determine the type of natural wetland the site most closely resembles at its current successional

The cumulative effect of culverts in impeding upstream fish passage is similar to that of large-scale high-head instream structures. The common solution to overcome this impediment is to add ancillary elements, with the goal to lower water velocities and to create discrete low velocity zones (LVZs) for fish to rest. The addition of spoiler baffles is one example of retrofitting structures with ancillary

Engineered soils provide numerous ecosystem services in urban landscapes, such as water regulation and plant growth. They are constructed to optimize soil physicochemical properties but their biological properties are given little consideration. In particular, earthworm communities may be highly impacted by soil engineering processes and soil isolation caused by asphalted surfaces separating soils

In response to shoreline erosion and coastal wetland loss, living shorelines have been implemented as a natural alternative to shoreline hardening. In high wave energy systems, “hybrid” living shoreline designs incorporating large-scale breakwaters have been increasingly chosen to restore and conserve wetlands. However, evaluations of the effectiveness of breakwaters at preserving natural shorelines

Naphthalene, originating from anthropogenic activities, is a toxic contaminant commonly found in urban stormwater runoff. This study investigated the adsorption and desorption potential of naphthalene in a bioretention cell soil at various temperatures and salinities representative of cold-climate winter conditions. In all experiments, more than 70% of the initially added naphthalene was adsorbed on

Heathlands are highly threatened ecosystems with high conservation value. Montane heathlands have suffered from widespread habitat loss due to land-use abandonment and afforestation. The aim of our study was to analyse the long-term effects of montane heathland restoration, nine to ten years after restoration, on vegetation in the Rothaar Mountains (Central Germany). We compared vegetation composition

Horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetlands (CWs) are widely adopted as a highly effective technique for stormwater treatment. However, the cumulative clogging phenomenon in HSSF is a complex and challenging operative issue affecting removal efficiencies and the lifespan of CWs. This paper aims to evaluate the reliability of a combined approach for assessing the occurrence of clogging and

The need to balance inland waterway engineering with river ecological integrity has attracted increasing attention from waterway engineers. Quantitative tools for evaluating the effects of waterway engineering on fish habitat serve as an effective basis for engineering design assessment and improvement. A tourism waterway construction project along the Upper Yellow River (UYR) is located within a core

Heathlands are of high importance for biodiversity conservation, and most heathlands depend on management. While the effects of management on biodiversity are well-studied for lowland heathlands, studies on Central European montane heathlands are scarce. Therefore, we analysed the effects of heathland rejuvenation measures on soil characteristics and phytodiversity within Central European montane heathlands

Riverine ecosystems form a dendritic network in which landscape and catchment-scale properties influence freshwater community structure. Placed in a restoration framework, this suggests that regional drivers can overrule the benefit of measures aiming at improving local habitat quality. Disentangling the relative influence of local and regional drivers on freshwater communities is thus crucial for

The construction of a high check dam on mountain Krzczonówka Stream, Polish Carpathians, in the mid-20th century caused numerous detrimental changes to the downstream reach. In 2014 the check dam was lowered to make the structure passable for river biota. Before that, several block ramps were constructed in the deeply incised downstream reach to facilitate entrapment of the sediment expected to be

The strength of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from different mangrove species are not well understood, and the roles that pneumatophores and litter play are especially unclear. For a complete seasonal cycle, we measured CH4 and CO2 fluxes from a cultivated mangrove species (Sonneratia apetala) and three typical native mangrove species: Bruguiera sexangula, Ceriops tagal and Kandelia

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of the mean flow velocity on the Floating Treatment Wetland (FTW) roots' network behaviour and associated opportunity for suspended solids entrapment. The objective was to identify the appropriateness of a FTW to reduce turbidity in a retention pond subject to specific flow regimes. A flume experiment with and without FTW was run under three

Aquaculture development was the major reason for mangrove loss in many Asian countries during the previous century. With increasing recognition of the importance of mangroves, rehabilitating aquaculture ponds back to mangrove forests has become a popular initiative. However, factors influencing mangrove recruitment, in particular natural recruitment in pond rehabilitation remain unclear. Here we surveyed

The present study evaluated arsenic (As) remediation capacity of Vetiveria. zizanoides plants from artificially contaminated soil (0, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000 mg kg−1) after various durations ie. 30, 60 and 90 d. Plants were found effective, maximum As removal being 71% after 90 d when grown in 50 mg kg−1 As. Plant growth was not affected at lower As levels (up to 250 mg kg−1) and V. zizanoides plants

Between 62% and 92% of industrial and municipal wastewater in upper-middle, low-middle, and low income countries is discharged to the environment untreated, releasing valuable nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into rivers, lakes, and oceans (Lipponen and Nikiforova, 2017). This, in addition to excess nutrients often present in agricultural runoff due to overuse and misuse of fertilizers

Conservation of natural resources is vital for sustainable management, especially in fragile semi-arid ecosystems. Forest plantations can provide a wide range of ecosystem services and deliver a measure of protection for soil and water resources. This study proposes a novel framework (Optimum Land Suitability Score, OLSS) to prioritize the most suitable areas with high priority for restoring degraded

Finding the entrance into a fishway might be challenging for upstream migrating fish and especially so in large rivers. Auxiliary discharge, added into the downstream section of the fishway, will improve the attraction in the tailwater, but may impede passage in the fishway itself. In the present study we investigated a best practice design of an entrance channel with auxiliary water supply through

This study investigated the establishment of 16 species of herbaceous, annual or short-lived perennial forbs, by sowing two different mixes in five experimental fields around Greece. The study aimed to examine the feasibility of establishing a naturalistic herbaceous community, as a more sustainable and visually enhancing alternative for landscape management at archaeological sites. Two seed mixes

In Taiwan, many floodplains are used for agriculture because flood discharge cannot be blocked, and farmers must be willing to accept the noncompensation offer from the government should their plants be destroyed by floods. Moreover, a scour problem has been observed in floodplains with some kinds of plant, such as bananas. Through a series of laboratory experiments, physical modeling was conducted

In recent decades land cover change resulting from different types of human activity has severely reduced the original area of tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF). Deforested landscapes in neotropical America commonly have a heterogeneous structure (i.e. landscape context) with increasingly small forest patches immersed in an agricultural matrix. Often, this matrix is not completely devoid of trees

In Upper Silesia in Poland, coal is still exploited intensively and mine dump reclamation and afforestation are important environmental mitigation activities. In this study, we analysed the survival rate and foliar nutrient (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg) supply status and their quantitative relationships of two-year-old Scots pine, Norway spruce, Common oak and European beech at an early afforestation stage

In human-impacted coastal ecosystems, living shorelines are becoming a common restoration technique. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the ecological and physical benefits, and how they could inform management needs. To address this, we studied effectiveness of living shorelines at a broad spatial scale within the Washington State boundaries of the Salish Sea, USA, with restored site

Recruiting native coastal vegetation and preventing the reinvasion of exotic Spartina alterniflora is a major challenge in China, due to harsh tidal environment for vegetation establishment and rapid Spartina colonization. This paper first reviewed the revegetation course of native Scirpus mariqueter in a coastal wetland in the Yangtze Estuary, where the adjacent Spartina was effectively eliminated

To make a significant contribution to the fundamental understanding of how the internal tissue structure of the Elymus culm is related to the culm stiffness and flexibility with respect to its section height, the present work uses state-of-the-art methods such as three‐-/two-point bending experiments, histological investigations, and numerical optimisation/identification modelling. The combination

Rapid human development in coastal areas is introducing significant amounts of novel habitat and leading to widespread habitat simplification. To predict how species will respond to these changes, it is important to understand how organisms interact with novel habitats versus naturally existing habitats. In this study, we used traditional fish sampling gear (fyke nets and minnow traps) and a Dual-Frequency

Every year, hundreds of millions of tons of straw are produced by wheat planting all over the world. In this work, a potential method using wheat straw to produce magnetic sorbents for soil Cd extraction was studied. Wheat straw chips were pyrolyzed at 300 and 700 °C and then mixed with Fe3+/Fe2+ solution for magnetization. The obtained magnetically modified biochars (MMBs) were applied to two Cd-contaminated

Woodchip bioreactors have the capability to promote the reduction of reactive nitrogen in the nitrate (NO3−) form to dinitrogen (N2), a harmless gas in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, during the reaction the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) is produced and can be released if denitrification is not complete. The aim of this experiment was to quantify the effect of a soil cap, the concentration

Microbial communities are vital for nutrient attenuation in surface-flow constructed treatment wetlands (CTWs). We used phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis to describe microbial communities in water, soil, sediment, and fresh humus compartments in six CTWs treating agricultural run-off in the Waikato Region of New Zealand. Sites ranged in their design and not all compartments could be sampled at

A major highlight of restoration efforts is to improve the ecological structure and function of the natural ecosystem in the restored habitat. Assessment of restoration success is a crucial component of an optimal ecological management strategy. In studies to determine the restoration success of a transplanted seagrass habitat by assessing trophic recovery, we examined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope

The mangrove restoration wetland project in Jinjiang Estuary, Fujian Province, was started in April 2014, and the wetland was restored using vegetation restoration technology. Prior to restoration, the area was a mix of Spartina alterniflora beaches, muddy beaches, and abandoned quarries, which were not environmentally robust. Six species of mangrove plants were used in the wetland, including Kandelia

Agricultural runoff impacts rivers and lakes on a global scale, while in developing countries (e.g., China), rural domestic wastewater is often an additional source of pollution. Scholars and policy makers are now promoting the use of agricultural vegetated ditches (VDs) as a potential supplemental management practices for nutrients and pesticide reduction from agricultural sources; however, information

Tree planting is a common strategy for forest restoration. The use of mid- and late-successional species is less common, but could accelerate succession, enhance diversity and secure their presence. In this study, we determined the survival and growth of 559 saplings from nine native mid- and late-successional species after three years of growth under a range of habitat conditions to evaluate their

Extensive green roofs in coastal areas planted with halophytes can contribute to the species preservation of local salt marshes that are being destroyed and threatened by urban development and enhance the local landscape character of coastal areas. Additional, benefits of halophytes include drought tolerance and the ability to withstand saline conditions in coastal areas. Herein the plant growth of

Nature-based coastal defense schemes commonly value bivalve reefs for i) reducing coastal erosion in the intertidal and for ii) forming fringing reefs near salt marsh edges to protect them against lateral retreat. The capacity for a reef to reduce erosion increases at a higher position in the tidal frame as the lower over-lying water level magnifies the influence of the reef on wave attenuation. Unfortunately

While the developmental dynamics of ecosystems have been studied in many natural systems, it is unclear if these patterns are to be expected in engineered ecosystems where components have not co-developed over time. Green roofs often begin with a nutrient rich substrate that is paired with slow-growing plants adapted to nutrient poor conditions - perhaps resulting in different developmental dynamics

Oyster populations in many coastal areas have decreased as a result of overharvesting and habitat degradation. In order to help restore oyster populations and natural water filtration, many restoration efforts utilize plastic mesh to reseed oyster reefs. However, plastics do not break down or mineralize in seawater, instead they break down into smaller and smaller pieces eventually becoming what is