Publications by authors named "Maria Jose Salamanca"
Article Synopsis
- The study assessed the environmental impact of acid mine drainage on the Odiel River by analyzing biomarkers in freshwater clams exposed for 14 days.
- The results indicated that the clams activated enzyme systems to fight oxidative stress quickly, within just 24 hours, but experienced significant DNA damage after prolonged exposure.
- Under normal conditions, the clams displayed balanced antioxidant activity, but in the harsh conditions of acid mine drainage, their enzymatic responses shifted towards signs of negative effects and decreased antioxidant defense.
Metal contamination from acid mine drainage (AMD) is a serious problem in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, where the Iberian Pyrite Belt is located. This zone contains original sulfide reserves of about 1700Mt distributed among more than 50 massive sulfide deposits. Weathering of these minerals releases to the waters significant quantities of toxic elements, which severely affect the sediments and surface waters of the region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic bioassay in benthic fish for the assessment of the quality of sediments in different areas of the coast of Spain impacted by acute and chronic oil spills.
Environ Toxicol
October 2008
More and more, the coastal regions of the world suffer from the contamination of petroleum hydrocarbon [principally polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)]. This contamination can be acute, as it happened in the Coast of Galicia (NW, Spain) by the oil spill from a tanker, or chronic by the existence of high maritime traffic and a lot of industries as it is the case of the Bay of Algeciras (BA) (SW, Spain). It is of a great concern due to the toxicity, especially in sediments and ecosystem associated to it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSediment quality assessments for regulatory purposes (i.e. dredged material disposal) are characterized by linking chemical and acute ecotoxicological data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe soluble components of fuel oil are generally assumed to be the fraction that is toxic for organisms living in the water column. We have used a liquid phase bioassay with embryos of sea urchin to assess the toxicity of the water-soluble fraction (elutriate) of the fuel oil spilled when the tanker Prestige sank on 13 November 2002. Two methodologies to obtain elutriates were carried out in order to compare the effect of the extraction method on the measured toxicity.
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