Dataset of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in a Mediterranean coastal wetland

The dataset provides information on Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) detected in the Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain), a typical Mediterranean coastal wetland. These PPCPs constitute an important group of organic pollutants highly representative of the human impact. The concentrations values measured in soil, sediment and water and the statistical relationship of contaminants between them and with the environmental parameters could help to understand their fate in different compartments. The data also reported the occurrence and removal efficiency (%) for each contaminant in ten wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), located in the surrounding area. This dataset could provide an idea on the effectiveness of WWTP treatments and the capacity of released PPCPs to affect the ecosystem. The extraction of analytes was based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) for water and solvent extraction followed by the previous SPE as clean-up for soil and sediment. Determination was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) with a triple-quadrupole

Transfer of elements relevant to radioactive waste into chironomids and fish in boreal freshwater bodies

Information on transfer of elements and their radionuclides is essential for radioecological modeling. In the present study, we investigated the transfer of Cl, Co, Mo, Ni, Se, Sr, U and Zn in a boreal freshwater food chain. These elements were selected on the basis that they have important radionuclides that might be released into the biosphere from various stages of the nuclear fuel cycle. Water, sediment, chironomid larvae (Chironomus sp.), roach (Rutilus rutilus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis) were sampled from two ponds near a former uranium mine and one reference pond located further away from the mining area. Concentrations measured in water, sediment and the three animal species indicated the importance of sediment as a source of uptake for most of the elements (but not Cl). This should be considered in radioecological models, which conventionally predict concentration in aquatic organisms from concentration in water. The results also show that the assumption of linear transfer (constant concentration ratio) may not be valid for elements into fish. The results of this study show that further basic research is needed to understand the fundamental processes involved in transfer of elements into freshwater organisms in order to develop radioecological models.</div

Do whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) larvae show adaptive variation in the avoidance of microplastic ingestion?

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Ecotoxicity assessment of boreal lake sediments affected by metal mining : Sediment quality triad approach complemented with metal bioavailability and body residue studies

Highlights • Ecological risk assessment of metal-contaminated boreal lakes and sediments. • Sediment Quality Triad complemented with bioavailability and body residue studies. • Toxicity studies for natural sediments with several organisms and endpoints • Adverse effects observed. High variation on results between different methods. • Standard toxicity tests not suitable for testing, too low pH hampers the results.There are several methods for studying metal-contaminated freshwater sediments, but more information is needed on which methods to include in ecological risk assessment. In this study, we compliment the traditional Sediment Quality Triad (SQT) approach – including information on chemistry, toxicity and ecological status – with studies on metal bioavailability and metal body residues in local organisms. We studied four mining-affected boreal lakes in Finland by conducting chemical analyses of sediment and water, toxicity tests (L. variegatus, V. fischeri, C. riparius, L. stagnalis), and analysis of benthic organism community structure. In addition, we studied the relationships between metal loading, toxicity, metal bioavailability, and metal body residues in the field-collected biota. Chemistry and benthic organism community structures show adverse effects in those lakes, where the metal concentrations are the highest. However, toxicity was connected to low sediment pH during the experiment, rather than to high metal concentrations. Toxicity was observed in 4 out of 6 toxicity tests including growth test with L. variegatus, bulk sediment test with V. fischeri, and the L. stagnalis toxicity test. The C. riparius test did not show toxicity. Metal body residues in biota were not high enough to induce adverse effects (0.1–4.1 mg Cu/kg fw, 0.01–0.3 mg Ni/kg fw, 2.9–26.7 mg Zn/kg fw and 0.01–0.7 mg As/kg fw). Chemical analyses, metal bioavailability assessment and benthic community structures survey revealed adverse effects in the sediments, where metal concentrations are highest (Lake SJ and Lake KS). Standard toxicity tests were not suitable for studying acid, sulfide-rich sediments and, therefore, benthic structure study and chemical analyses are believed to give more reliable results of the ecological status of these sediments

A Combined Field and Laboratory Study on Activated Carbon-Based Thin Layer Capping in a PCB-Contaminated Boreal Lake

The <i>in situ</i> remediation of aquatic sediments with activated carbon (AC)-based thin layer capping is a promising alternative to traditional methods, such as sediment dredging. Applying a strong sorbent like AC directly to the sediment can greatly reduce the bioavailability of organic pollutants. To evaluate the method under realistic field conditions, a 300 m² plot in the PCB-contaminated Lake Kernaalanjärvi, Finland, was amended with an AC cap (1.6 kgAC/m²). The study lake showed highly dynamic sediment movements over the monitoring period of 14 months. This led to poor retention and rapid burial of the AC cap under a layer of contaminated sediment from adjacent sites. As a result, the measured impact of the AC amendment was low: Both the benthic community structure and PCB bioaccumulation were similar on the plot and in surrounding reference sites. Corresponding follow-up laboratory studies using Lumbriculus variegatus and Chironomus riparius showed that long-term remediation success is possible, even when an AC cap is covered with contaminated sediment. To retain a measurable effectiveness (reduction in contaminant bioaccumulation), a sufficient intensity and depth of bioturbation is required. On the other hand, the magnitude of the adverse effect induced by AC correlated positively with the measured remediation success

Increasing concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids in browning boreal lakes is driven by nuisance alga Gonyostomum

Elevated concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) promote browning of lakes, which alters the physicochemical properties of water and ecosystem functioning. However, browning‐induced changes in basal production of polyunsaturated fatty acids from the n‐3 and n‐6 families (n‐3 and n‐6 PUFA) in lakes are not fully understood. The concentrations of PUFA, which are micronutrients required to maintain growth and reproduction of consumers, have been suggested to either rise or decline in seston as a response to lake browning. Elevated DOC concentrations may also promote bacterial biomass and production and thus potentially increase the concentration of bacterial fatty acids (BAFA) in seston. We analyzed phytoplankton, bacteria and heterotroph biomasses, the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton, and the concentrations and mass fractions of bioseston PUFA, BAFA, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids in ten boreal lakes in eastern Finland, with DOC concentration ranging from 2.8 to 18.7 mg/L. Our results showed that the abundance of PUFA in seston depended on the responses of phytoplankton biomass and community composition to lake browning. Lake browning increased seston PUFA and BAFA concentrations (expressed as µg/L) but not the contents (expressed as µg/mg bioseston C). Although low DOC lakes had a favorable phytoplankton community (in terms of PUFA content), the phytoplankton biomass in these oligotrophic lakes was so low that the concentration of PUFA remained low compared to high DOC lakes. The increasing concentration of PUFA in bioseston along the DOC gradient was mainly due to the increasing biomass of nuisance alga Gonyostomum semen . However, Gonyostomum may be too large for small‐sized zooplankton to ingest, and thus, the trophic transfer of PUFA may be impaired. The trajectories for lake browning and the basal production of PUFA also may depend on the source of carbon and associated nutrient loading; DOC and nutrient loading from agricultural areas may promote cyanobacteria dominance and decrease PUFA availability in lakes, while DOC runoff from more acidic and nutrient‐poor peatlands may promote Gonyostomum dominance and increase seston PUFA concentration.peerReviewe