Wetland management maintains nitrogen (N) removal capacity in mature and overgrown constructed wetlands (CWs). We evaluated whether CW management by macrophyte harvesting, and subsequent installation of woodchips-based floating beds (WFBs) planted with Glyceria maxima and Filipendula ulmaria improved N removal. In sixteen heavily overgrown experimental CWs, we applied four treatments: i) only macrophyte harvesting, ii) 5% of the harvested-CW surface covered with WFBs, iii) 20% WFBs cover, and iv) a control treatment (heavily overgrown). N removal was determined in all wetlands at nine occasions. Plant biomass accrual, N assimilation, and denitrification genes nirS, nirK, nosZI and nosZII on plant roots and woodchips from WFBs were estimated. Macrophyte harvesting improved N removal of heavily overgrown CWs, whereas subsequent WFB installation only sometimes improved N removal. Mean N removal efficiencies (± standard deviation) overall were 41 ± 15 %, 45 ± 20 %, 46 ± 16 % and 27 ± 8.3 % for treatments i to iv, respectively. Relative biomass production, root length and root surface area for G. maxima (mean ± standard deviation: 234 ± 114 %, 40 ± 6.5 cm, 6308 ± 1059 cm2g-1, respectively) were higher than those for F. ulmaria (63 ± 86 %, 28 ± 12 cm, 3131 ± 535 cm2g-1, respectively) whereas biomass N assimilation was higher for F. ulmaria (1.8 ± 0.9 gNm−2 of WFB) than for G. maxima (1.3 ± 0.5 gNm−2 of WFB). Denitrification gene abundance was higher on plant roots than on woodchips while G. maxima hosted higher root denitrification gene abundance than F. ulmaria. We conclude that macrophyte harvesting improves N removal in heavily overgrown CWs. WFBs installation has the potential to support plant growth and denitrification in surface-flow constructed wetlands. Further studies need to evaluate the long-term effects of macrophyte harvesting and WFB installation on N removal in CWs. © 2024 The Authors

The agricultural sector has a critical role in creating social and environmental value of natural resources in addition to its traditional role of creating economic value by supplying food to the ever-increasing world population. In fulfilling this dual role, the agricultural sector often faces competing pressures: to operate financially profitable businesses and to create, maintain, and benefit from ecosystem services (ES) in their operations. This paper analyses these pressures in an examination of drivers and barriers to the initiation of the business model innovation process for sustainability (BMIpfS) as perceived by ten agricultural business managers who operate farms in southern Sweden. The paper explores the interplay between managerial cognition and business decisions as revealed in semi-structured interviews. The new ES in focus connect to radical land-use change, paludiculture, as used in the rewetting of farmland intended to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drained peat soil causes. The paper contributes to the literature by identifying drivers and barriers that moderates the initiation of the BMIpfS. Although the managers acknowledge the importance of long-term, sustainable social, and environmental value creation, they have grave doubts about the profitability of activities associated with the preservation of peat soils and connected ES. These managers would benefit from taking a more proactive, long-term approach to business model changes for sustainability and from acquiring more knowledge about market demand for sustainability-oriented ES. Successful facilitation and implementation of knowledge transfer and government subsidies that support ES could improve the turning of profits based on sustainable value creation.

Wetlands in agricultural areas mitigate eutrophication by intercepting nutrient transports from land to sea. The role of wetlands for nutrient removal may become even more important in the future because of the expected increase in agricultural runoff due to climate change. Because denitrification is temperature dependent, wetland nitrogen (N) removal usually peaks during the warm summer. However, climate change scenarios for the northern temperate zone predict decreased summer and increased winter flows. Future wetlands may therefore shift towards lower hydraulic loading rate and N load during summer. We hypothesised that low summer N loads would decrease annual wetland N removal and tested this by examining 1.5–3 years of continuous N removal data from created agricultural wetlands in two regions in southern Sweden (East and West) during different periods. West wetlands showed relatively stable hydraulic loads throughout the year, whereas East wetlands had pronounced no-flow periods during summer. We compared East and West wetlands and tested the effects of several variables (e.g., N concentration, N load, hydraulic load, depth, vegetation cover, hydraulic shape) on annual absolute and relative N removal. We found no difference in annual N removal between East and West wetlands, even though summer N loads were lower in East than in West wetlands. A possible explanation is that stagnant water conditions in East wetlands suppressed decomposition of organic matter during summer, making more organic matter available for denitrification during winter. Absolute N removal in all wetlands was best explained by N load and hydraulic shape, whereas relative N removal was best explained by emergent vegetation cover and hydraulic shape. This study highlights the importance of design and location of agricultural wetlands for high N removal, and we conclude that wetlands in a future climate may remove N from agricultural runoff as efficiently as today. © 2023 The Authors

Wetland nitrogen (N) removal is temperature dependent and therefore generally highest during summer in the northern temperate zone. However, climate change scenarios predict more frequent summer droughts in these regions, resulting in lowered N transports during summer to wetlands created for interception of agricultural runoff. This may adversely affect annual wetland N removal, thus reducing the mitigative effects wetlands have on eutrophication. In this study, continuous flow-proportional sampling was performed in six agricultural wetlands located on the east coast, and three on the west coast, of southern Sweden. These two regions represent different climate conditions, where precipitation is lower and summer temperatures are higher on the east coast. Our results showed a pronounced no-flow period during summer in east coast wetlands, but not in west coast wetlands. No-flow periods only decreased N load and removal rate during summer but had no effect on annual N removal. Annual N removal was instead best explained by multiple regression with annual N load and hydraulic efficiency as predictors. This indicates that low wetland N removal during drier summers may be compensated by higher N removal during other seasons. A possible explanation is that annual N removal through denitrification is determined by the amount of organic carbon provided by wetland vegetation, and that organic carbon not utilized during summer, due to lack of nitrate and oxygen under no-flow conditions, will be available for denitrification during other seasons. In conclusion, climate change might not have the anticipated decreasing effect on wetland N removal.

Efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are receiving increased attention among governmental and commercial actors. In recent years, the interest in paludiculture, i.e. the use of rewetted peatlands, has grown because of its potential to reduce GHG emissions by stopping soil decomposition. Moreover, cultivating wetland plants on rewetted peatlands for  bioenergy production that replaces fossil fuels in the transport sector, can contribute to additional GHG emission reductions. In this study, an analysis of literature data was conducted to obtain data on GHG emissions (CO2 and CH4) and biomass production from rewetted peatlands cultivated with two different wetland plant species: Phragmites australis (Pa) and Typha latifolia (Tl). In  addition, a  biogas experiment was carried out to investigate the biomethane yield of Pa and Tl biomass, and the reduction of global warming potential (GWP) by using biomethane as vehicle fuel. The results show that peatland rewetting can be an important measure to mitigate the GWP as it reduces GHG emissions from the soil, particularly on a 100-year timescale but also to some extent on a 20-year timescale. More specifically, rewetting of 1 km2 of peatland can result in  a  GWP reduction corresponding to  the  emissions from ±2600 average sized petrol cars annually. Growing Pa on rewetted peatlands reduces soil GHG emissions more than growing Tl, but Pa and Tl produced similar amounts of biomass and biomethane per land area. Our study concludes that Pa, because of a more pronounced GWP reduction, is the most suitable wetland plant to cultivate after peatland rewetting. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia, T. angustifolia and Arundo donax are tall wetland graminoids with the potential to replace fossil fuels under sustainable cultivation conditions. We investigated the biomethane (CH₄) production of these four species, including four different genotypes of P. australis, which represent the high intraspecific diversity of European reed. All plants were grown under three different macronutrient supplies (no nutrients added, an equivalent of 75 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ added and an equivalent of 500 kg N ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ added). Biomethane production was measured in four independent batch digestion tests. Across all experiments, fertilization regime had little effect on CH₄ yield, which was on average 222 ± 31 L kg⁻¹ volatile solids (VS). The lowest yield was produced by T. angustifolia (140 L kg_VS⁻¹) receiving no nutrients, while the highest yield was produced by A. donax (305 L kg_VS⁻¹) in the highest nutrient treatment. The intraspecific diversity of P. australis did not affect biomethane production. All P. australis genotypes produced on average 226 ± 19 L CH₄ kg_VS⁻¹, which, although high, was still lower than conventional biogas species. The biomass production of P. australis was less increased by fertilization than that of Typha sp. and A. donax, but all species had similar biomass without fertilization.

Restored and constructed semi-natural wetlands are increasingly used in the agricultural landscape to intercept nutrients from surface waters. Vegetated surface-flow wetlands remove more nitrogen (N) than those without vegetation. However, changes in N removal over time as differently vegetated wetlands progress from early successional stages to mature systems are less investigated. We monitored three different types of initial planting over the course of 12 years, with the aim to examine how planting of newly constructed wetlands affects long-term N removal. All our data were collected in an experimental wetland facility in south-western Sweden. The facility consists of 18 identical small (ca. 25 m²) surface-flow wetlands, simulating semi-natural wetlands in an agricultural landscape. Initially, the 18 wetlands were randomly divided into three treatments (vegetation types) with six replicates each and planted with (1) emergent vegetation, (2) submerged vegetation and (3) no vegetation for free development. Vegetation succession afterwards progressed uninhibited in all wetlands. Emergent vegetation wetlands initially removed more N than both submerged vegetation and free development wetlands. We found that N removal in submerged vegetation and free development wetlands increased with ecosystem age, whereas N removal in emergent vegetation wetlands did not. N removal in all three vegetation types converged when the wetlands reached a more mature state, around 8 years after wetland construction. However, although all wetlands contained emergent vegetation in year 8, the proportion of emergent vegetation cover and vegetation composition still differed substantially between wetland types. Our study indicates that it is not the cover of emergent vegetation per se which promotes higher N removal in more mature wetlands, but the maturation process itself; mature wetlands despite differing emergent vegetation coverage achieved equally high N removal. In conclusion, once wetlands reach maturity, beneficial effects of initial planting on N removal disappear. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

I den här studien beräknades kväve- och fosforavskiljningen utifrån automatiserad flödesproportionell provtagning i fem anlagda våtmarker i Kalmar län under tre års tid samt i ett anlagt fosfordike i länet under två år (fortsättningsvis benämns alla sex studieobjekt som våtmarker). Syftet med studien var att utvärdera funktionen av våtmarker i Kalmar län för avskiljning av kväve och fosfor. I rapporten presenteras även nya beräkningsmetoder som tagits fram för att hantera de osäkerheter som oundvikligen följer av denna typ av situ-studier. Denna rapport bör kunna bidra till förbättrade mätmetoder och analyser i framtida våtmarksstudier.

De våtmarker som ingår i studien är lokaliserade i fem olika kommuner i Kalmar län. Våtmarkerna som studerats är Hanåsa (Högsby kommun), Resmo (Mörbylånga kommun), Påboda (Torsås kommun), Grisbäck (Torsås kommun), Hossmo (Kalmar kommun) och Häckenstad (Västerviks kommun). Urvalet av våtmarker är gjort av Länsstyrelsen med målsättningen att få ett representativt urval av våtmarker i Kalmar län. Våtmarkerna i studien skiljer sig därför från varandra både i utformning och i vilken omgivning de är anlagda. De flesta av våtmarkerna är cirka en halv hektar stora, men den största våtmarkens area är 2,5 hektar och den minsta har en area på endast 220 kvadratmeter. Några av våtmarkerna har mycket hög andel åkermark i tillrinningsområdet, medan andra våtmarker främst har skog i sitt tillrinningsområde.

Flödesproportionell provtagning har kontinuerligt genomförts vid in- och utlopp i fem våtmarker från november 2016 till och med december 2019, och i en våtmark från maj 2018 till och med december 2019. I tre av våtmarkerna mättes flöde både vid inlopp och utlopp, och i tre av våtmarkerna mättes flöde endast vid utlopp. Flödesmätning gjordes en gång per minut, och varje vecka hämtades vattenprover från våtmarkerna för att analyseras för bland annat innehåll av näringsämnen. Den data som samlats in har sedan bearbetats, beräknats och korrigerats för att kunna användas i bedömningen av våtmarkernas näringsavskiljning.

Flödena i våtmarkerna följde vanligen tydliga säsongsmönster där sommarflöden var låga och flödestoppar skedde under höst, vinter och vår. Resmo, på Öland, hade längre torrperioder än övriga våtmarker i studien. Näringskoncentrationerna vid de olika våtmarkernas inlopp var i genomsnitt under studien mellan 1,7 och 9,9 mg kväve per liter och mellan 64 och 157 µg fosfor per liter. Kvävet var huvudsakligen i form av nitratkväve, och fosforn var i huvudsak partikelbunden fosfor. Både kväve- och fosforavskiljning i våtmarkerna ökade med ökad belastning. Den genomsnittliga årliga kväve- och fosforavskiljningen per hektar vattenyta skiljde sig stort mellan våtmarkerna. Den varierade från negativ avskiljning i den största våtmarken till över 1 000 kg per hektar vattenyta och år för både kväve och fosfor i den minsta våtmarken (tabell 1). Angivet i procent avskildes i genomsnitt upp till 14 % av den årliga kvävebelastningen och upp till 70 % av den årliga fosforbelastningen. Jämfört med tidigare modellerad kväve- och fosforavskiljning för våtmarker i Kalmar län och andra delar av Sverige var avskiljningen i våtmarkerna i denna studie generellt högre.

_{Tabell 1. Genomsnittlig kväve- och fosforavskiljning angivet per hektar vattenyta och år och i procent av den årliga belastningen i de sex våtmarkerna i studien. På grund av mätosäkerheter anges avskiljningen i vissa av våtmarkerna som ett intervall.} 

                     Kväveavskiljning                   Fosforavskiljning

Våtmark       kg ha^-1 år^-1   %                     kg ha^-1 år^-1    %

Hanåsa          -351               -37                   -49                  -91

Resmo           407                3,8                   19                    31

Påboda          845 – 1 013    12 – 14             20 – 28            22 – 29

Grisbäck        523 – 899       7,2 – 12            113 – 153        45 – 54

Hossmo         346 – 965       2,7 – 7,3           -1,1 – 14         -4,4 – 13

Häckenstad    1 471             4,3                    1 688              70

Resultaten i denna studie visar att våtmarker i Kalmar län kan uppnå hög näringsavskiljning, men att skillnaderna mellan olika våtmarker är stora. Resultaten visar också att hög kväve- och fosforavskiljning kan uppnås i våtmarker med relativt låg andel åkermark i tillrinningsområdet, och att mycket hög fosforavskiljning kan uppnås i små våtmarker även utan en djuphåla. Projektet bidrar till en bättre bild av vilken avskiljning av kväve och fosfor som kan uppnås i anlagda våtmarker i södra Sverige. Resultat från projektet kan tillsammans med tidigare mätningar utgöra en grund för säkrare modellberäkningar av kväve- och fosforavskiljning, vilka kan användas för att på ett enklare sätt undersöka avskiljningen i ett större antal våtmarker eller för att prediktera vad som kan uppnås i planerade våtmarksprogram. 

Though the existence of cultural ecosystem services is dependent on people’s activities and experiences, these services are still commonly assessed using top–down approaches. In this study, appraisal theory and research into human responses to natural environments formed the basis of a systematic multilevel investigation of appraisals of created wetland areas. The aim was to explore how appraisals could be used as a bottom–up approach to assessing the perceived contribution of wetland areas s to people’s quality of life (QoL). In total, 111 participants assessed environmental perceptions, affective experiences, and restorative potentials on site at three wetlands in Sweden. The results indicate that wetland areas and specific places with different ecological functions within these areas were appraised significantly differently. Moreover these places were perceived to support various QoL aspects to different degrees. Concepts and methods tested here give environmental planners hands-on tools for facilitating communication with expected users about the cultural ecosystem services of created wetland areas. © 2019

Excess nitrogen (N) from agricultural runoff is a cause of pollution inaquatic ecosystems. Created free water surface (FWS) wetlands can be used as buffering systems to lower the impacts of nutrients from agricultural runoff. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate critical factors for N removal in FWSwetlands receiving high nitrate (NO₃⁻) loads from agriculture. The study was performed in 12 experimental FWS wetlands in southern Sweden, receiving drainage water from an agricultural field area. The effects of water depth (mean depth of 0.4 m and 0.6 m, respectively) and phosphorus (P) availability (with or without additional P load) were investigated from July to October. The experiment was performed in a two-way design, with three wetlands of each combination of depth and P availability. The effects of P availability on the removal of NO₃⁻ and total N were strongly significant, with higher absolute N removal rates per wetland area (g m⁻² day⁻¹) as well as temperature-adjusted first-order area-based removal rate coefficients (K_at) in wetlands with external P addition compared to wetlands with no addition. Further, higher N removal in deep compared to shallow wetlands was indicated by statistically significant differences in K_at. The results show that low P availability may limit N removal in wetlands receiving agricultural drainage water. Furthermore, the results support that not only wetland area but also wetland volume may be important for N removal. The results have implications for the planning, location, and design of created wetlands in agricultural areas. © 2019 by the authors