Symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Portuguese natural ecosystems: a systems biology approach to predict climate change influence

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The use of Cerastoderma glaucum as a sentinel and bioindicator species: Take-home message

Publication . Velez, Cátia; Pires, Adília; Sampaio, Leandro; Cardoso, Paulo; Moreira, Anthony; Leandro, Sérgio; Figueira, Etelvina; Soares, Amadeu M.V.M.

tBivalves are frequently used to assess environmental contamination, and are often considered goodsentinel and/or bioindicator species. For that reason the bioaccumulation and toxicity induced by metalsand As in the cockle Cerastoderma glaucum, collected from areas with different contamination levelsalong the Óbidos lagoon (Portugal), were used to evaluate the use of this species as sentinel and/orbioindicator. The results showed that areas in the middle of the lagoon presented lower metals and Asconcentrations, lower total organic matter content and lower percentage of fine particles than areasin the Bom Sucesso arm. In all areas Cr, Pb and Cu were the most abundant elements, while Ni, As,Cd and Hg were less abundant. Results also showed a moderate correlation between total elementsconcentrations found in C. glaucum and in sediment, and thus caution should be taken when consideringthis species as a good sentinel species. The present study also revealed that, in general, C. glaucum fromareas in the middle of the lagoon accumulated higher concentrations of metals and As (Biota-SedimentAccumulation Factor >1) than cockles from the most polluted areas located in the Bom Sucesso arm.However, in all areas, the majority of metals (Cu, Cr, Pb) were found in cockles insoluble fraction whichmay explain low cellular damage and reduced oxidative stress responses observed. Therefore, our resultsmay further alert for caution when identifying C. glaucum as a good bioindicator species. Thus, our findingshighlight the fact that studies should be cautious when selecting species for environmental monitoring,since good sentinels or bioindicators in highly polluted systems may not act in the same way in lowor moderately contaminated areas. Furthermore, our study warns for the misclassification of cockles indifferent ecosystems.© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.1. IntroductionCoastal systems have been constantly threatened by pollution,due to the increase of urbanization, agriculture and industrialactivities (Green-Ruiz and Páez-Osuna, 2001; Poulos et al., 2000).Considering this, it is well established that sediment act as a sink fora variety of contaminants, such as metals and metalloids (Buruaemet al., 2012; Hoffman et al., 2002), affecting benthic organisms(Dauvin, 2008). Environmental impact assessment studies haverelied on monitoring benthic community parameters (e.g. speciesrichness and abundance), measuring the concentrations of selected∗Corresponding author at: Departamento de Biologia & CESAM, Universi-dade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.Tel.: +351 234370782; fax: +351 234372587.E-mail

2016Journal article

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