Bai Yaohui, Wang Qiaojuan, Lin Hui, Ben Weiwei, Qiang Zhimin, Liu Huijuan, Yang Min, Qu Jiuhui
Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Fundam Res. 2023 Feb 3;5(3):1107-1110. doi: 10.1016/j.fmre.2022.09.034. eCollection 2025 May.
Micropollutants (MPs) discharged from municipal wastewater treatment plants are of great environmental concern due to their toxicities to aquatic organisms. Given the knowledge gaps on how MPs affect receiving aquatic ecosystems, we initiated the EcoImprove project to unravel the causal relationship between MP discharge and variation in biocommunity (especially microbial community) composition and function in receiving aquatic ecosystems. After integrating laboratory studies, field investigations, and flume simulation experiments from 2014 to 2021, we investigated how different MPs affect the growth and metabolic function of microbial species, developed several microbial indicators to evaluate the effects of MP discharge on receiving rivers, and evaluated the ecological benefits of municipal wastewater treatment plant upgrade on receiving aquatic ecosystems. Here, we summarize the main outcomes of the EcoImprove project and propose future research plans to deepen our understanding of the ecological impacts of anthropogenic activity.
城市污水处理厂排放的微污染物（MPs）因其对水生生物的毒性而备受环境关注。鉴于在微污染物如何影响受纳水生生态系统方面存在知识空白，我们启动了“生态改善”项目，以揭示微污染物排放与受纳水生生态系统中生物群落（尤其是微生物群落）组成和功能变化之间的因果关系。在整合了2014年至2021年的实验室研究、实地调查和水槽模拟实验后，我们研究了不同的微污染物如何影响微生物物种的生长和代谢功能，开发了几个微生物指标来评估微污染物排放对受纳河流的影响，并评估了城市污水处理厂升级对受纳水生生态系统的生态效益。在此，我们总结了“生态改善”项目的主要成果，并提出未来的研究计划，以加深我们对人为活动生态影响的理解。
