Effects of a chelating resin on metal bioavailability and toxicity to estuarine invertebrates: Divergent results of field and laboratory tests

Benthic invertebrates can uptake metals through diffusion of free ion solutes, or ingestion of sediment-bound forms. This study investigated the efficacy of the metal chelating resin SIR 300™ in adsorbing porewater metals and isolating pathways of metal exposure. A field experiment (Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia) and a laboratory toxicity test each manipulated the availability of porewater metals within contaminated and uncontaminated sediments. It was predicted that within contaminated sediments, the resin would adsorb porewater metals and reduce toxicity to invertebrates, but in uncontaminated sediments, the resin would not significantly affect these variables. Whereas in the laboratory, the resin produced the predicted results, in the field the resin increased porewater metal concentrations of contaminated sediments for at least 34 days and decreased abundances of four macroinvertebrate groups, and richness in all sediments. These contrasting findings highlight the limits of extrapolating the results of laboratory experiments to the field environment.     

Geochemistry and toxicity of sediment porewater in a salt-impacted urban stormwater detention pond

A comprehensive study was carried out to investigate the impacts of road salts on the benthic compartment of a small urban detention facility, Rouge River Pond. Although the pond is an engineered water body, it is representative of many small urban lakes, ponds and wetlands, which receive road runoff and are probable high impact areas. Specific objectives of the study were to document the porewater chemistry of an aquatic system affected by elevated salt concentrations and to carry out a toxicological assessment of sediment porewater to determine what factors may cause porewater toxicity. The results indicate that the sediment porewater may itself attain high salt concentrations. The computations show that increased chloride levels have important implications on the Cd complexation, augmenting its concentration in porewater. The toxicity tests suggest that the toxicity in porewater is caused by metals or other toxic chemicals, rather than high levels of chloride.     

Response of a Fuzzy INdex of Ecosystem integrity (FINE) to water and sedimentary chemical data in two northern Adriatic lagoons

The European WFD (2000/60/EC) requires the assessment of the ecological quality status of water bodies, and gives great importance to the biological components of the ecosystem. A multimetric, fuzzy-based index for the evaluation of environmental quality (FINE: Fuzzy INdex of Ecosystem integrity) has been developed. The FINE index was calculated at 7 sites in the Sacca di Goro and the Valli di Comacchio (Adriatic Sea), where water and sedimentary chemical data were available for the years 2004 and 2005. A significant positive correlation was found between FINE values and dissolved oxygen, while significant negative correlations were observed between FINE values and transparency, nitrogen and phosphorous in the water column, and heavy metals and PCB in the sediments.     

Minimizing Impacts of Maintenance Dredged Material Disposal in the Coastal Environment: A Habitat Approach

At present, coastal disposal of maintenance dredged material constitutes one of the most important problems in coastal zone management and in some coastal areas represents the major anthropogenic disturbance to the benthos. In this review we first propose, based on the classic literature, that macrofaunal communities typical of environmentally stressed habitats are more resilient than those of more environmentally stable habitats, and we outline the macrofaunal successional changes following a disturbance. Second, from a review and analysis of the published and unpublished literature on macrofaunal recovery following maintenance dredged material deposition in the coastal environment, we compare the successional sequences and recovery rates in euhaline and polyhaline systems. The review reveals that invertebrate recovery following dredged material disposal in relatively unstressed marine environments generally takes between 1 and 4 years, while in more naturally stressed areas, recovery is generally achieved within 9 months, although deeper polyhaline habitats can take up to 2 years to recover. Differences in recovery times are attributed to the number of successional stages required to regain the original community composition and that species typical of naturally unstressed assemblages do not possess life-history traits to allow rapid recolonization of disturbances. In the last section of this review, the management implications of these findings are discussed in terms of minimizing dredged material disposal impacts on fisheries resources. Since the natural disturbance regime appears to be very important in determining the response of a benthic community following dredged material disposal, it is recommended that when predicting the potential environmental impact of an operation, the nature of the physical environment in combination with the status (and role) of associated marine benthic communities should be considered.     

滦河流域浮游生物与底栖动物分布特征调查研究

基于2010年7月、10月两次对滦河流域的上游高原、中游山区以及下游平原河段21个典型断面水生生物调查,并采用Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Pielou群落均匀度指数和Simpon指数对各区域的浮游生物与底栖动物的群落组成、生物多样性以及空间异质性进行生物多样性评价。结果表明:滦河流域浮游植物的优势种整体上以绿藻门和硅藻门为主,浮游动物以轮虫和桡足类为主要类群,底栖动物的主要类群为水生昆虫和软体动物;滦河流域浮游植物生态群落结构较稳定;浮游动物生态群落结构较不稳定;底栖动物种类以摇蚊科居多,生态结构较单一;滦河流域的水生生物类群组成及分布与水流、泥沙、水质等河流水文特征及河床底质类型密切相关,并可在一定程度上反映河流水环境状况。     

The Monitoring of UK Sewage Sludge Disposal Sites

In recent years there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of environmental monitoring surveys at UK sewage sludge disposal sites. These have been carried out by the regulatory authorities and by the licensees. in order to ensure maximum efficiency, a coordinated and harmonised programme of monitoring has been developed. the programme concentrates on sediment chemical and biological quality but also includes assessments of water and fish quality

In England and Wales the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is the regulatory authority and the Water Authorities are the licensees. the Ministry's first priority is the collection of samples for temporal trend analysis but in addition, infrequent surveys are made to check the status of the disposal site and surrounding areas. in the periods between status surveys, regular spatial surveys designed to define the area of impact are carried out by the Water Authorities.     

Macroinvertebrate community response to acid mine drainage in rivers of the High Andes (Bolivia)

Several High Andes Rivers are characterized by inorganic water pollution known as acid mine drainage (AMD). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between metal concentrations in the sediments and the macroinvertebrate communities in two river basins affected by AMD. In general, the taxon diversity of the macroinvertebrate community at the family level was low. The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb and Ni at mining sites were higher than at unpolluted sites. The pH of the water was alkaline (7.0-8.5) in unpolluted sites, whereas it dropped to very low values (<3) at mining sites. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) showed that pH was the best predictor of macroinvertebrate community richness. The number of macroinvertebrate families decreased gradually with increasing acidity, both in pools and riffles, though it is suggested that riffle communities were more affected because they are in closer contact with the acid water.     

连云港港区海洋环境质量状况

为分析连云港海洋环境质量,对连云港港区水质、沉积物及生物因子进行监测。结果表明,港区内某些点位水质中无机氮含量较高,达到污染程度,其余点位监测指标均正常,沉积物中的重金属尚未对该海域造成污染。浮游植物31种,其中甲藻门8种,硅藻门23种,浮游植物数量变动为1.84×104m-3~1.16×105m-3;底栖生物17种,多样性指数平均值为1.89。港区内水域环境时空变化表明,海水中锌含量连续大幅增加,其余指标均下降50%,沉积物重金属含量变化不大。     

烟台玉岱山湾潮间带底栖动物调查

2019年8月对烟台市芝罘区对玉岱山湾潮间带的底栖动物进行了调查,共发现潮间带底栖动物27种,优势种是褶牡蛎,栖息密度为27.8个/m^2。本次调查研究发现玉岱山湾潮间带底栖动物物种相对2013年同期数量有所增加。