TY - JOUR

T1 - From natural habitats to successful application

T2 - Role of halophytes in the treatment of saline wastewater in constructed wetlands with a focus on Latin America

AU - Turcios, Ariel E.

AU - Miglio, Rosa

AU - Vela, Rosemary

AU - Sánchez, Giovanna

AU - Bergier, Tomasz

AU - Włodyka-Bergier, Agnieszka

AU - Cifuentes, Jorge I.

AU - Pignataro, Gabriela

AU - Avellan, Tamara

AU - Papenbrock, Jutta

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the financial support of the project “CWetlandsData , Towards the Constructed Wetlands Knowledge Platform for sustainable development” funded within ERANET_LAC by the following agencies: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (grant number 01DN20009 ), Germany; National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) , Poland; National Council of Science and Technology (CONCYT) , Guatemala; National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) , Peru; and National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII), Uruguay . We are also grateful for the support of Ms. Fiorella Salazar (Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina) and Ms. Marie Hielscher (Institute of Botany, Leibniz University Hannover) .

PY - 2021/10

Y1 - 2021/10

N2 - In many parts of the world wastewater is not treated at all or only to a limited extend because there are no resources available to establish an efficient wastewater treatment plant and there are also insufficient resources for operation and maintenance costs. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are nature-based solutions to treat wastewater in a highly cost-efficient manner. They can be very efficient and effective when well designed and maintained. Latin America is rich in saline natural wetlands. These can be used as prototypes for CWs treating saline process or wastewater. Similar to natural saline wetlands CWs can deliver several ecosystem services. This review focuses on saline wetlands and will first present the protagonists, the salt-tolerant plant species belonging to the halophytes with respect to their physiological and biochemical functions in wetlands. In a second step, their remediating activities which are used in many ways by local people will be shown in an exemplary manner. A number of CWs established in different regions, including Latin America, will be introduced as case studies. Halophytes are already being used in a number of CWs as biofilter but their usage could be increased, for example to treat aquaculture effluents and the biomass has a high potential for valuable compounds (i.e. metabolites) or for bioenergy production. Lastly, aspects of sustainability and ecosystem services of saline natural and constructed wetlands are shown with an emphasis on charting a way forward for the future holistic implementation of saline systems in Latin America.

AB - In many parts of the world wastewater is not treated at all or only to a limited extend because there are no resources available to establish an efficient wastewater treatment plant and there are also insufficient resources for operation and maintenance costs. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are nature-based solutions to treat wastewater in a highly cost-efficient manner. They can be very efficient and effective when well designed and maintained. Latin America is rich in saline natural wetlands. These can be used as prototypes for CWs treating saline process or wastewater. Similar to natural saline wetlands CWs can deliver several ecosystem services. This review focuses on saline wetlands and will first present the protagonists, the salt-tolerant plant species belonging to the halophytes with respect to their physiological and biochemical functions in wetlands. In a second step, their remediating activities which are used in many ways by local people will be shown in an exemplary manner. A number of CWs established in different regions, including Latin America, will be introduced as case studies. Halophytes are already being used in a number of CWs as biofilter but their usage could be increased, for example to treat aquaculture effluents and the biomass has a high potential for valuable compounds (i.e. metabolites) or for bioenergy production. Lastly, aspects of sustainability and ecosystem services of saline natural and constructed wetlands are shown with an emphasis on charting a way forward for the future holistic implementation of saline systems in Latin America.

KW - Constructed wetlands

KW - Halophyte plants

KW - Nature-based solutions

KW - Phytoremediation

KW - Sustainability

KW - Water treatment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109428888&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2021.104583

DO - 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2021.104583

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85109428888

VL - 190

JO - Environmental and Experimental Botany

JF - Environmental and Experimental Botany

SN - 0098-8472

M1 - 104583

ER -