2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/26/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | MACROINVERTEBRATE INTERACTIONS STIMULATE DECOMPOSITION IN WWTP EFFLUENT IMPACTED AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS | Virtual Platform
MACROINVERTEBRATE INTERACTIONS STIMULATE DECOMPOSITION IN WWTP EFFLUENT IMPACTED AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Aquatic ecosystems worldwide are impacted by an influx of nutrients and sludge particles from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, leading to a degradation of benthic habitats and a loss of associated macroinvertebrate taxa. Hence, the few tolerant macroinvertebrate taxa remaining in these systems play an important role in the degradation of organic matter, and biotic interactions between these taxa may either affect the sludge degradation rate. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine if the interaction between asellids and tubificids, both abundant in WWTP effluent impacted systems, enhances the sludge degradation. Thus, growth and reproduction of both taxa, sludge degradation, and nutrient concentrations in the overlying water were measured in a 28-day laboratory experiment, subjecting WWTP sludge to 4 treatments; a control without macroinvertebrates, a tubificid, an asellid, and an asellid+tubificid treatment. Sludge degradation, phosphate concentration in the overlying water and asellid reproduction were enhanced when both taxa were jointly present, whereas tubificid growth and reproduction were hampered. Hence, our results suggest that the biotic interactions between these tolerant detritivores stimulate sludge degradation, and thus possibly mitigate the negative impacts of WWTP discharges on the benthic environment.
- Ecosystem functioning
- Decomposition
- Anthropogenic litter
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Presenters/Authors
Tom van der Meer
(), Wageningen Environmental Research, tom1.vandermeer@wur.nl;
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Gea van der Lee
(), Wageningen Environmental Research, gea.vanderlee@wur.nl;
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Ralf C.M. Verdonschot
(), Wageningen Environmental Research, ralf.verdonschot@wur.nl;
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Piet F.M. Verdonschot
(), University of Amsterdam / Wageningen Environmental Research , piet.verdonschot@wur.nl;
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