Taewoo Kim, Changkeun Lee, Inha Kwon, Junghyun Lee, Shin Yeong Park, Dong-U Kim, Jongmin Lee, Gayoung Jin, Mehdi Yousefzadeh, Hanna Bae, Yeonjae Yoo, Jae-Jin Kim, Junsung Noh, Seongjin Hong, Bong-Oh Kwon, Won Keun Chang, Gap Soo Chang, Jong Seong Khim
Natural purification of pollutants is highly recognized as regulating ecosystem services; however, the purification capacity of tidal flats remains largely unknown and/or unquantified. A 60-day mesocosm transplant experiment was conducted in situ to assess the purification capacity of natural tidal flats. We adopted the advanced sediment quality triad approach, monitoring 10 endpoints, including chemical reduction, toxicity changes, and community recoveries. The results indicated that contaminated sediments rapidly recovered over time, particularly > 50% within a day, then slowly recovered up to ∼ 70% in a given period (60 days)...
March 1, 2024: Environment International