In Africa, Morocco is the 10th largest producer of plastic. The severity of this plastic has attracted increasing amounts of attention in the Moroccan Atlantic and Mediterranean in recent years. However, at the national level, there is limited knowledge of plastic pollution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoastal tourism's surge raises concerns for Morocco's Agadir marine environment, notably with Taghazout Bay's impact. Our study assesses Taghazout's health, employing a comprehensive approach. Our study evaluates Taghazout's health, adopting a comprehensive approach covering physicochemical, microbiological aspects, macrobenthic fauna, metal pollution, and biomarkers in D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOmnipresent presence of triclosan (TCS) in aqueous environment puts a potential threat to organisms. However, it's poorly understood about its immunometabolic impacts of marine invertebrates. In present study, we use a representative bivalve blood clam (Tegillarca granosa) as a model, investigating the effects of TCS exposure at 20 and 200 μg/L for 28 days on immunometabolism, detoxification, and cellular homeostasis to explore feasible toxicity mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCigarette butts pose a significant challenge in managing solid litter, with an estimated 4.5 trillion of them being discarded into the environment annually. This study investigated the pollution of eleven beaches along the Moroccan Mediterranean by cigarette butts compared to other types of marine litter between 2018 and 2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoastal ecosystems and their marine populations are increasingly threatened by global environmental changes. Bivalves have emerged as crucial bioindicators within these ecosystems, offering valuable insights into biodiversity and overall ecosystem health. In particular, bivalves serve as hosts to trematode parasites, making them a focal point of study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and tetrachlorobisphenol A (TCBPA) have been widely used as flame retardants. However, their potential health risks to organisms have raised concerns, particularly for liver toxicity. Present study aimed to explore the toxic effects of TCBPA and TBBPA on black-spotted frogs (Pelophylax nigromaculatus) liver oxidative stress, autophagy, and lipid accumulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeavy metals are considered a major threat to aquatic ecosystems, due to their ability to penetrate and accumulate through the food chain, putting marine organisms and the ecosystem at risk. This research presents a case study of the Taghazout coast, located in the central Atlantic of Morocco, which has become the focal point of various development projects, including the Taghazout Bay tourist resort. The study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the harmful effects of these metals on the reproductive cycle and population dynamics of the bivalve Donax trunculus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMorocco is one of the most affected regions by heavy metal pollution worldwide. In this study, two ecosystems in Agadir Bay, southern Morocco, were studied seasonally, using surface sediment and bivalve species. The concentrations of Cu, Pb and Cd were determined using the Shimadzu AAS 7000 flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGroundwater resources of the alluvial aquifer Ghiss Nekkor, which covers an area of 100 km, are the main source of domestic and agricultural freshwater supply in the region of Al Hoceima in Morocco. Due to human activities (overexploitation, increase in agricultural activity), this alluvial aquifer has become very sensitive to chemical pollution. The principal objective of this current study is to develop and implement a calibration method to assess, map, and estimate the vulnerability of the Ghiss Nekkor alluvial aquifer to pollution risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Morocco, the marine environment has always been a major occupation for socioeconomic activities (industry, tourism, urbanization, etc.). Thus, this work displays a case study of Taghazout coast in the central Atlantic part of the country, which becomes the center of several development projects, such as the touristic resort Taghazout Bay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study describes the contamination, accumulation, and ecological risk assessment of five trace metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cr) in sediments of an urbanized beach in the central Atlantic coastline of Morocco. The two-year investigation (2018 and 2019) included six sampling sites along a 6 km coastal reach. In both years, none of the studied trace metals exceeded the background or the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs).
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