J Environ Manage
May 2024
Nowadays, biomarkers are recognized as valuable tools to complement chemical and ecological assessments in biomonitoring programs. They provide insights into the effects of contaminant exposures on individuals and establish connections between environmental pressure and biological response at higher levels. In the last decade, strong improvements in the design of experimental protocols and the result interpretation facilitated the use of biomarker across wide geographical areas, including aquatic continua.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOtolith shape is often used as a tool in fish stock identification. The goal of this study was to experimentally assess the influence of changing temperature and ontogenic evolution on the shape component of the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) otolith during early-life stages. A total of 1079 individuals were reared in a water temperature of 16°C up to 232 days post hatch (dph).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn September 26th 2019, a major fire occurred in the Lubrizol factory located near the Seine estuary, in Rouen-France. Juvenile flounders were captured in the Canche estuary (a reference system) and caged one month in the Canche and in the Seine downstream the accident site. No significant increases of PAHs, PCBs and PFAS was detected in Seine vs Canche sediments after the accident, but a significant increase of dioxins and furans was observed in water and sewage sludge in the Rouen wastewater treatment plant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hydro-meteorological conditions in marine environments are recognized to have a major impact on the transport and dispersion of microplastics (MP), although their precise effects remain poorly understood. This study investigates the effects of tidal fluctuations on MP abundance and composition in a megatidal coastal water. Waters samples were collected every ninety minutes over the course of two complete tidal cycles - one during spring tide and another during neap tide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
February 2024
Bivalves have gained prominence in active biomonitoring of microplastics (MPs) pollution. Nevertheless, critical questions persist regarding blue mussels' selectivity and representativeness of the presence of microplastics in the natural environments. In this current study, we explored short- and long-term exposure durations for caged mussels, aiming to establish the minimum period required for them to attain a steady-state in microplastics retention and investigate their selectivity in a real-world context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew studies have highlighted the impact of urbanization and meteorological events on the quantity of microplastics (MPs) discharged into the sea through rivers. To evaluate this issue in the Mediterranean Basin, surface water samples were collected from two more or less urbanized Lebanese Rivers: the Nahr Ibrahim (S1) and the Nahr Antelias (S2), during dry and wet periods. A significant higher abundance of 14.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue to limitations of sampling methods, subsurface water is usually a less well-investigated compartment of the water column when scientists assess microplastic contamination. In this study, microplastic (MP) contamination was assessed in a freshwater river both in surface and subsurface using an innovative sampling method. Microplastic contamination in the lower part of the water column, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo contribute to the sustainable management of the coastal fishing in the future Marine Protected Area (MPA) of "Taza" (Algeria, SW Mediterranean), the aim of this study was to evaluate the Local Knowledge (LK) of fishers operating near the forthcoming MPA and to understand their conservation-oriented attitudes. Data were collected through interviews and participatory mapping. To this end, 30 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and September 2017 with fishers, collecting socioeconomic, biological, and ecological information in the fishing harbor of Ziama (Jijel, NE Algeria).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew studies on microplastics (MPs) in the marine environment have been conducted along the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and even fewer along the Lebanese coast. This study aims to determine MPs contamination for the first-time in coastal and continental shelf sediments collected along the Lebanese shores, South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Sediments were collected as transects in 10 sites with a total of 23 samples between 2 and 120 m depth and suspected MPs were assessed by moving farther from land-based sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe lack of one standardized method to evaluate microplastic pollution in different aquatic environments worldwide represent a gap to fill for the scientist's community. To help overcome this challenge, we adapted an aquatic drone, named Jellyfishbot®, to sample microplastics. The aquatic drone has been compared with the actual most used method for sampling MPs in surface waters: the Manta net.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigates the effect of fish density and exposure duration on trace metal elements (TME) bioaccumulation and several biomarkers response. Juvenile flounders were caged at low, medium and high densities and exposed during 15 or 30 days in the Seine estuary. The concentrations of the TME measured in the muscle of the caged fish were all in agreement with their bioavailability percentage in the sediments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to characterize and compare the feeding ecology of the European eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) during the continental phase (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe seasonal pattern of microplastics (MPs) contamination of the French littoral area of the Pertuis Charentais, one of the main French shellfish production regions, was assessed for the first time, between May 2019 and May 2020 at four different sites. The reference site was located at "Ile de Ré" and the other sites were located in the estuaries of the Sèvre Niortaise, Charente and Seudre rivers. Both blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and Pacific oysters (Magallana gigas), that are considered sentinel species for the quality of the marine environment were analysed, along with sediment and seawater samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe main objective of this study was to improve our knowledge on the responses of fish populations to multistress (diffuse pollution and warming waters) in estuaries. Adult flounders were caught in two estuaries in the Eastern English Channel: the heavily polluted Seine estuary vs the moderately contaminated Canche estuary. Fish samplings were conducted in January just before the reproduction period, and in July when gonads were at rest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this study was to develop an integrative approach in ecotoxicology (from biomarkers to population genetics) to assess the ecological status of fish populations. Flounders () collected after the spawning season in the heavily polluted Seine estuary were compared with the moderately polluted Bay of Douarnenez. The muscle energetic reserves were highly depleted in Seine vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
November 2020
Microplastics (MPs), plastics with particles smaller than 5 mm, have been found almost in every corner of the world, especially in the ocean. Due to the small size, MPs can be ingested by animals and enter the marine trophic chain. MPs can affect animal health by physically causing damage to the digestive tract, leaking plastic chemical components, and carrying environmental pollutants and pathogens into animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLevels of 20 trace elements (Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Hg, Pb, and U) were assessed in livers and muscles of two demersal fish species (Siganus rivulatus and Lithognathus mormyrus) and one pelagic species (Etrumeus teres) from the Lebanese coast located in the Eastern Mediterranean. The samples were collected from three sites along the Lebanese coast during the wet and dry seasons in 2017. The trace elements were more concentrated in livers than in muscles and interspecific differences were also found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
March 2020
The effectiveness of mussel caging for active microplastics (MPs) biomonitoring was investigated for the first time by comparing abundance and characteristics (shape, size, color and type of polymers) of MPs ingested by caged depurated blue mussels with those ingested by native mussels collected at the same sites and with those found in their surrounding environment (surface water and sediments). Mussels were exposed along a pollution gradient originating from a wastewater treatment plant discharge and near an abandoned coastal landfill. After 6 weeks of deployment, the majority (93%) of clean transplanted mussels had ingested MPs with a mean number of items ranging from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Mediterranean Sea is the largest semi-enclosed sea and one of the worst affected regional seas with sub-basin scale heterogeneity in plastics concentration. Few studies on microplastics (MPs) pollution have been conducted in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean basin. This study aims to evaluate, for the first time, the MPs pollution of the Lebanese coast (Levantine Basin) as well as the most common polymers found, and to assess the potential role of coastal landfills in this pollution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the role of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent and an abandoned coastal landfill as pathways for microplastics (MPs) input into the marine environment. MPs were first analyzed in raw sewage influent, sludge and effluent samples, and their fate was studied along a distance gradient from the WWTP in three matrices: surface water, sediments and wild mussels. All suspected MPs were characterized according to their polymer nature using micro-Raman spectroscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstuaries are important areas highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pollutions. Therefore, the assessment of estuarine water quality is a major ecological issue. In this study, we sampled juveniles of the European flounder in the "pristine" Canche estuary, and caged them in Canche and in two polluted sites of the Seine estuary, Rouen and Fosse Nord.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstuaries serve as nursery grounds for many marine fish species. However, increasing human activities within estuaries and surrounding areas lead to significant habitat quality degradation for the juveniles. In recent years, plastic pollution has become a global environmental issue as plastic debris are found in all aquatic environments with potential adverse impacts on marine biota.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlastics are found to be major debris composing marine litter; microplastics (MP, < 5 mm) are found in all marine compartments. The amount of MPs tends to increase with decreasing size leading to a potential misidentification when only visual identification is performed. These last years, pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) has been used to get information on the composition of polymers with some applications on MP identification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evaluation of freshness and freeze-thawing of fish fillets was carried out by assessment of autolysis of cells using a cytosolic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. Autolysis plays an important role in spoilage of fish and postmortem changes in fish tissue are due to the breakdown of the cellular structures and release of cytoplasmic contents. The outflow of a cytosolic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, was studied in sea bream fillets and the Sparus aurata fibroblasts (SAF-1) cell-line during an 8day storage period at +4°C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Pollut Res Int
June 2016
This paper presents the results of seasonal (wet and dry seasons) and spatial (five sites) variation of mercury concentration in seven marine organisms representative for shallow Senegalese coastal waters and including species of commercial importance. Total mercury levels were recorded in the green algae (Ulva lactuca); the brown mussel (Perna perna); the Caramote prawn (Penaeus kerathurus); and in the liver and muscles of the following fish: Solea senegalensis, Mugil cephalus, Saratherondon melanotheron, and Sardinella aurita. The total selenium (Se) contents were determined only in the edible part of Perna perna, Penaeus kerathurus and in the muscles of Sardinella aurita and Solea senegalensis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF