ABSTRACT
This growing knowledge base leads to an increased appreciation of just how complex treatment wetlands are. Because treatment wetlands are strongly influenced by a variety of biological processes and by biogeochemical cycles, the assumptions that simplify the analysis of conventional treatment reactors in the environmental engineering field may no longer apply. As wetland technologies continue to evolve, countless effort is being applied to better understand the short-term and long-term treatment and variability cycles in these systems. Because treatment variability strongly influences wetland design, the factors that influence performance, such as hydraulics and internal biogeochemical cycling, become paramount in understanding how treatment wetlands function. This knowledge can then be applied to make informed decisions regarding wetland design.
