Phytoremediation is a way to use plants to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in water bodies, nutrients which could cause eutrophication. Duckweed, water fern, and a combination of both plants were cultivated in varying nutrient environments and analyzed for nutrient uptake patterns. These environments had nitrogen levels characteristic of eutrophic water bodies and phosphorus levels characteristic of oligotrophic and mesotrophic water bodies. Nitrogen concentrations decreased by up to 87% in the duckweed treatment. Possible synergistic effects between the two species were observed, as the combination treatment reduced nitrogen levels to 11% below expected values.
