Macrophyte importance in contaminant treatment and biomonitoring

Abstract

Constructed wetlands are systems based on nature, in which macrophytes are themain biological community. According to the diversity of wastewaters that thesesystems can treat, its use has expanded all over the world. Treatment wetlands aresuccessfully used in the removal of emerging contaminants. However, the knowledgeof the removal mechanisms is still scarce. The use of macrophytes asbiomonitors should be considered as a useful tool for the management of aquaticsystems contaminated by different sources. In macrophyte ecotoxicological studies,not only the measurement of antioxidant enzymes but also other basicbiological parameters, such as changes in different biomass compartments andthe internal morphology, should be considered. This chapter discusses the importanceof macrophytes in wetlands constructed for the treatment of differenteffluents, their use as biomonitors in natural wetlands that receive urbanpollutants, and some ecotoxicological aspects applied to phytoremediation.