Molybdenum (Mo) sourced mainly from artificial activities is an emerging environmental concern whose remediation is seldom reported. This study screened the Mo-enriched macrophyte Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara due to its high enrichment factor (10.25). Phytoremediation (V. natans) and microorganism-assisted phytoremediation (V. natans-Serratia marcescens A2) efficiency were compared. S. marcescens A2 improved phytoremediation in the early stage, however, it reduced the total Mo removal rate by 8.42%. Further experiments were conducted to investigate the environmental factors (light intensity and overlying water flow rate) on the phytoremediation by V. natans. The optimal phytoremediation performance was achieved under a high overlying water flow rate (0.022 cm·s-1) with intense light (60 μmol·m-2·s-1) conditions. In addition, increasing the light intensity or flow rate increased the microbial communities' diversity in the sediment. Notably, the abundance of norank_f__Bacteroidetes_vadinHA17, related to Mo release in sediments, increased by 147.96% at optimal conditions. This study illustrated that the phytoremediation of Mo-contaminated sediments by V. natans is of practical potential.
Keywords: Light intensity; Molybdenum; Overlying water flow rate; Phytoremediation; Sediment; Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.