Viability of Wetland Crops for Use in Treatment Wetlands: Nitrogen Removal from Water and Production of Food

Author

Andrew Denson Corder, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Date of Award

12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Christopher Gabler

Second Advisor

Dr. Jude Benavides

Third Advisor

Dr. Engil Pereira

Abstract

Treatment wetlands are used to treat wastewater from a variety of sources, but their functionality depends on the macrophytes present therein. To better understand the viability of wetland macrophytes both as sources of food and as agents of nitrogen removal from wastewater, this study quantified plant growth, food production, and nitrogen removal capacity of three common wetland crops as well as three locally dominant graminoid species in a variety of relevant ecological contexts. All six plant species and a control were grown over a ten-week period in three related experiments: (1) under three moisture regimes, (2) with or without competition with Lemna minor, and (3) under three water cycling regimes. We used repeated measures ANOVAs to examine differences in effluent nitrogen levels among treatments and permutational ANOVAs to evaluate effects of treatments on biomass. We found significant differences between species and across treatments in the macrophytes’ filtration and food functions.

Comments

Copyright 2019 Andrew Denson Corder. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/viability-wetland-crops-use-treatment-wetlands/docview/2382599618/se-2?accountid=7119

Recommended Citation

Corder, Andrew Denson, "Viability of Wetland Crops for Use in Treatment Wetlands: Nitrogen Removal from Water and Production of Food" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 439.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/etd/439