In eutrophic lakes, the decay of settled algal biomass generates organic carbon and consumes oxygen, favoring sediment nitrogen loss via denitrification. However, persistent winds can cause algae to accumulate into dense mats, with uncertain impacts on sediment nitrogen removal. In this study, we investigated the effects of algal accumulation on sediment nitrogen removal in a shallow and eutrophic Chinese lake, Taihu. We found that experimental treatments of increased algal accumulation were associated with decreased sediment nitrogen losses, indicating the potential for a break in coupled nitrification-denitrification. Likewise, field measurements indicated similar decreases in sediment nitrogen losses when algal accumulation occurred. It is possibly caused by the decay of excess algal biomass, which likely depleted dissolved oxygen, and could have inhibited nitrification and thereby denitrification in sediments. We estimate that if such algal accumulations occurred over 20% or 10% of lake area in Taihu, sediment nitrogen removal rates decreased from 835.6 to 167.2 and 77.2 μmol N m–2h–1, respectively, during algal accumulation period. While nitrogen removal may recover later, the apparent nitrogen removal decrease may create a window for algal proliferation and intensification. This study advances our knowledge on the impacts of algal blooms on nitrogen removal in shallow eutrophic lakes.

Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) and biofilm carriers are widely used in water purification. The objective of the present work was to explore whether and to what extent an FTW integrated with plants and biofilm carriers (FTW-I) could enhance the nutrient removal efficiency. Significantly higher removal rates of ammonia nitrogen (85.2 %), total phosphorus (82.7 %), and orthophosphate (82.5 %) were observed in the FTW-I treatment relative to the FTW with plants (FTW-P; 80.0, 78.5, and 77.6 %, respectively) and the FTW with biofilm carriers (FTW-B; 56.7, 12.9, and 13.4 %, respectively) (p < 0.05). The mass balance results indicated that plant uptake was the main pathway for N and P removal (accounting for 58.1 and 91.4 %, respectively) in FTW-I, in which only 1.2 % of the N and 5.7 % of the P was deposited on the bottom of the tank. In addition, the plants translocated 43.9 and 80.2 % of the N and P in the water and 83.5 and 88.3 % of the absorbed N and P, respectively, into their aboveground tissues. The combination of an FTW and biofilm carriers can improve the efficiency of water purification, and nutrients can be rapidly removed from the system by harvesting the aboveground plant tissues.

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