Bioaccumulation of organic and inorganic contaminants in biota: A long-term evaluation in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Determining the extent of pollution in the marine environment remains challenging. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals can, during dredging operations, be transported from a port or harbour into the open sea, where they may exert a harmful effect on the marine ecosystem. To fully understand the impact of these chemicals, monitoring programs should not only focus on sediment concentrations, but should also take into account the bioaccumulated concentration in the tissue of multiple target organisms.

Towards reliable data: Validation of a machine learning-based approach for microplastics analysis in marine organisms using Nile red staining.

Microplastic (MP) research faces challenges due to costly, time-consuming, and error-prone analysis techniques. Additionally, the variability in data quality across studies limits their comparability. This study addresses the critical need for reliable and cost-effective MP analysis methods through validation of a semi-automated workflow, where environmentally relevant MP were spiked into and recovered from marine fish gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) and blue mussel tissue, using Nile red staining and machine learning automated analysis of different polymers.

Vertical and horizontal environmental DNA (eDNA) patterns of fish in a shallow and well-mixed North Sea area.

The integration of eDNA metabarcoding into monitoring programs provides valuable information about fish community structures. Despite the growing body of evidence supporting the method's effectiveness in distinguishing fine-scale eDNA signals, there is a limited understanding of eDNA distribution in shallow, well-mixed environments, especially related to sampling depth. We analyzed 167 samples collected from the surface and bottom water at 17 locations of the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS), where the deepest sampling point was 31 m, and compared this to beam trawl catch data collected simultaneously at the same locations.

Comparative study of traditional and DNA-based methods for environmental impact assessment: A case study of marine aggregate extraction in the North Sea.

Environmental impact assessments of marine aggregate extraction are traditionally conducted based on morphological characteristics of macrobenthos, which is time-consuming, labour-intensive and requires specific taxonomic expert knowledge. Bulk DNA metabarcoding is suggested as a promising alternative. This study compares the traditional morphological and the bulk DNA metabarcoding method to assess the impact of sand extraction activities on three sandbanks in the Belgian North Sea.

Assessing the risk of booster biocides for the marine environment: A case study at the Belgian part of the North Sea.

The biofouling of submerged surfaces such as ship hulls is often prevented by using anti-fouling components in combination with booster biocides. These booster biocides enter the water column and may affect non-target organisms. Although different negative effects have been associated with the use of booster biocides, their effects on non-target organisms are often unknown.

Increased food availability at offshore wind farms affects trophic ecology of plaice Pleuronectes platessa.

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) and their associated cables, foundations and scour protection are often constructed in soft-sediment environments. This introduction of hard substrate has been shown to have similar effects as artificial reefs by providing food resources and offering increased habitat complexity, thereby aggregating fish around the turbines and foundations. However, as most studies have focused their efforts on fish species that are typically associated with reef structures, knowledge on how soft sediment species are affected by OWFs is still largely lacking.

Short- and long-term assessment of PAH, PCB, and metal contamination in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Dredging activities can result in the relocation of contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals from shipping channels, harbours, and ports into the marine environment where these components may exert a negative effect on the marine ecosystem. In this work, contamination associated with dredging is evaluated at and around dredged spoil disposal sites in the Belgian part of the North Sea, taking into account spatial as well as temporal variation. A homogeneous dispersion of the different contaminants was observed at the different sites.

Validating a biophysical dispersal model with the early life-history traits of common sole (Solea solea L.).

Larval dispersal and juvenile survival are crucial in determining variation in recruitment, stock size and adult distribution of commercially important fish. This study investigates the dispersal of early-life stages of common sole (Solea solea L.) in the southern North Sea, both empirically and through modeling.

Identification and semi-quantification of Atlantic salmon in processed and mixed seafood products using Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR).

Fishery products are often subject to substitution fraud, which is hard to trace due to a lack of morphologic traits when processed, gutted, or decapitated. Traditional molecular methods (DNA barcoding) fail to identify products containing multiple species and cannot estimate original weight percentages. As a proof of concept, an Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) specific ddPCR assay was designed to authenticate mixed food products.

A high-quality genetic reference database for European commercial fishes reveals substitution fraud of processed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and common sole (Solea solea) at different steps in the Belgian supply chain.

Seafood is an important component of the human diet. With depleting fish stocks and increasing prices, seafood is prone to fraudulent substitution. DNA barcoding has illustrated fraudulent substitution of fishes in retail and restaurants.

Population genomic structure of the gelatinous zooplankton species in its nonindigenous range in the North Sea.

Unlabelled: Nonindigenous species pose a major threat for coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Risk management requires genetic information to establish appropriate management units and infer introduction and dispersal routes. We investigated one of the most successful marine invaders, the ctenophore , and used genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to explore the spatial population structure in its nonindigenous range in the North Sea.

Bioaccumulation of PCBs from microplastics in Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus): An experimental study.

Plastic debris acts as a sorbent phase for hydrophobic organic compounds like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Chemical partitioning models predict that the ingestion of microplastics with adsorbed chemicals in the field will tend not to result in significant net desorption of the chemical to the organism's tissues. This is expected due to the often limited differences in fugacity of the chemical between the indigestible plastic materials and the tissues, which are typically already exposed in the same environment to the same chemicals as the plastic.

Effects of Offshore Wind Farms on the Early Life Stages of Dicentrarchus labrax.

Anthropogenically generated underwater noise in the marine environment is ubiquitous, comprising both intense impulse and continuous noise. The installation of offshore wind farms across the North Sea has triggered a range of ecological questions regarding the impact of anthropogenically produced underwater noise on marine wildlife. Our interest is on the impact on the "passive drifters," i.

Acoustic stress responses in juvenile sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax induced by offshore pile driving.

Underwater sound generated by pile driving during construction of offshore wind farms is a major concern in many countries. This paper reports on the acoustic stress responses in young European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax (68 and 115 days old), based on four in situ experiments as close as 45 m from a pile driving activity. As a primary stress response, whole-body cortisol seemed to be too sensitive to 'handling' bias.

On the distribution and population dynamics of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Belgian part of the North Sea and Westerschelde estuary.

The spatio-temporal distribution and population dynamics of the non-indigenous ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 were investigated through monthly and quarterly surveys in 2011-2012 at several locations in the Belgian part of the North Sea, the main coastal ports and the adjacent Westerschelde estuary. M.

In situ mortality experiments with juvenile sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in relation to impulsive sound levels caused by pile driving of windmill foundations.

Impact assessments of offshore wind farm installations and operations on the marine fauna are performed in many countries. Yet, only limited quantitative data on the physiological impact of impulsive sounds on (juvenile) fishes during pile driving of offshore wind farm foundations are available. Our current knowledge on fish injury and mortality due to pile driving is mainly based on laboratory experiments, in which high-intensity pile driving sounds are generated inside acoustic chambers.

Similar diversity-disturbance responses to different physical impacts: three cases of small-scale biodiversity increase in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Human activities at sea are still increasing. As biodiversity is a central topic in the management of our seas, it is important to understand how diversity responds to different disturbances related with physical impacts. We investigated the effects of three impacts, i.