2 research outputs found
Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations Affect the Composition of Benthic Communities
To
date, chronic effect studies with manufactured nanomaterials
under field conditions are scarce. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> effects of 0, 0.002, 0.02, 0.2, and 2 g/kg multiwalled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNTs) in sediment on the benthic community composition after 15
months of exposure. Effects observed after 15 months were compared
to those observed after 3 months and to community effects of another
carbonaceous material (activated carbon; AC), which was simultaneously
tested in a parallel study. Redundancy analysis with variance partitioning
revealed a total explained variance of 51.7% of the variation in community
composition after 15 months, of which MWCNT dose explained a statistically
significant 9.9%. By stepwise excluding the highest MWCNT concentrations
in the statistical analyses, MWCNT effects were shown to be statistically
significant already at the lowest dose investigated, which can be
considered environmentally relevant. We conclude that despite prolonged
aging, encapsulation, and burial, MWCNTs can affect the structure
of natural benthic communities in the field. This effect was similar
to that of AC observed in a parallel experiment, which however was
applied at a 50 times higher maximum dose. This suggests that the
benthic community was more sensitive to MWCNTs than to the bulk carbon
material AC
Long-Term Recovery of Benthic Communities in Sediments Amended with Activated Carbon
Using activated carbon (AC) for sediment remediation
may have negative
effects on benthic communities. To date, most AC effect studies were
short-term and limited to single species laboratory tests. Here, we
studied the effects of AC on the recolonization of benthic communities.
Sediment from an unpolluted site was amended with increasing levels
of AC, placed in trays and randomly embedded in the original site,
which acted as a donor system for recolonization of benthic species.
After 3 and 15 months, the trays were retrieved and benthic organisms
identified. A positive trend with AC was detected for species abundance
after 3 months, whereas after 15 months a negative trend with AC was
detected for Lumbriculidae and Pisidiidae. On the community level,
statistical analyses showed a considerable recovery in terms of species
diversity and abundance in 3 months and full recovery of the community
after 15 months. This was explained from migration of individuals
from the donor system, followed by further migration and reproduction
of the species in the next year. AC treatments explained 3% of the
variance in the community data. This work suggests that AC community
effects are mild as long as AC levels are not too high (1–4%)