ROCKY SHORE MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES AS INDICATORS OF SEWAGE POLLUTION

Publicações

Trace Elements in Edible Rocky Shore Species: Effect of Sewage Discharges and Human Health Risk Implications

Publication . Cabral-Oliveira, Joana; Pratas, João; Mendes, Susana; Pardal, Miguel A.

Sewage pollution is a worldwide concern and can result in increasing levels of trace elements in the environment that can pose serious risks both to wildlife and human health. This highlights the importance of studying the role of sewage discharges in the contamination of aquatic systems, especially in rocky shores, since part of our food resources is directly collected from coastal waters. For this purpose, the accumulation of trace elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Co, Cd, Fe, Mn, and As) by edible molluscs (Mytilus galloprovincialis, Patella ulyssiponensis, and Phorcus lineatus) was compared between one sewage-impacted area and two reference areas. This study suggests that the concentrations of trace elements in the soft tissues of the selected molluscs can be affected by the presence of sewage discharges, and that limpets seem to be the best bioindicator. Moreover, the sewage pollution increased the concentrations of As in the mollusc species, emphasizing its potential damaging effects on natural systems and on edible species.

2015Artigo científico

Acesso restrito

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Effects of sewage pollution on the structure of rocky shore macroinvertebrate assemblages

Publication . Cabral-Oliveira, J.; Mendes, S.; Maranhão P.; Pardal, M. A.

The urgency to find efficient indices and indicators to prevent further deterioration of coastal areas is one of the hot topics in today’s scientific publication. However, a detailed knowledge of community responses to anthropogenic impacts is essential to sustain those indices. The studies on the response of benthic community to sewage pollution on intertidal rocky shores are generally based on visual census and do not take into account the tidal levels. In order to fulfil this gap in this study: (i) the sampling was performed by destructive sampling, with all individuals identified to the species level; (ii) the sampling was done at all levels of the intertidal (sublittoral fringe, eulittoral, and littoral fringe). Sewage pollution changed the environmental variables and the abundance of macroinvertebrates, being Mytilus galloprovincialis, Melarhaphe neritoides, and Chthamalus montagui the species most responsible for the dissimilarities observed. Effects were different on the three intertidal zones: community structure changed in the sublittoral fringe; suspension-feeders abundances and species richness increased in the eulittoral; no differences were detected in the littoral fringe. Moreover, the results confirm that the presence of sewage discharges tended to benefit suspension feeders, and that the sensitive species were replaced by opportunistic ones.

2014Artigo de investigação

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Palavras-chave

, Natural sciences ,Natural sciences/Biological sciences

Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.

Número da atribuição

SFRH/BD/48874/2008