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Trophic Chain Transfer of Contaminants in Aquatic Environments during the Global Change

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 9050

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marina Marcella Manca

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR IRSA, Verbania, Italy
Interests: zooplankton ecology; lakes, ecosystem functioning; Anthropocene; climate change; climate and trophy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Roberta Piscia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR IRSA, Verbania, Italy
Interests: ecology of freshwater zooplankton and analysis of zooplankton resting stages in lacustrine sediment, ecotoxicology, stable isotope analyses, and aquatic food webs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Laura Marziali

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Water Research Institute, National Research Council (CNR-IRSA), Via del Mulino 19, I-20861 Brugherio, Italy
Interests: freshwater ecology; benthic macroinvertebrates; trace element contamination; environmental risk assessment; ecotoxicology; bioaccumulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Presence of contaminants in water environments is increasingly being reported all over the world. While contamination by “old” classes of substances and trace elements is relatively under control in most areas of the world, new generation compounds in non-negligible numbers are fastly released into aquatic environments of industrialized countries, even when regulations for their characterization and discharge (such as REACH in Europe) exist. This poses severe control problems also in terms of legislation processes aimed at controlling their use and spread. Once released into the environment, contaminants are seized through the food web; level of contamination of the different components varies depending on physiology and on ecological role of organisms. Lipophilic compounds tend to accumulate at the higher levels of the trophic web, and in larger-sized organisms, such as fish, therefore proving to be potentially harmful also for human consumption and human health.

Understanding patterns and mechanisms of pollutant transport through the food web is therefore essential for understanding level and duration of pollution and ecologically-sound perspectives of restoration within the ideal world of the water recircle. To this aim, basic knowledge of functional diversity of aquatic communities is crucial, allowing to identify ecological roles of different taxa comprising the aquatic community. In this respect, taxa-specific carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis are very useful, providing quantitative estimates of organisms’ ecological roles and of organisms’ interactions, as well as habitat preferences and how they can change over time.

Dr. Marina Manca
Dr. Roberta Piscia
Dr. Laura Marziali
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pollutants
  • aquatic food webs
  • food web transfer
  • water re-use
  • bioaccumulation
  • stable istope analyses
  • legacy contaminants
  • emergent contaminants

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 1940 KiB  
Article
Mercury Accumulation in a Stream Ecosystem: Linking Labile Mercury in Sediment Porewaters to Bioaccumulative Mercury in Trophic Webs
by Xiaoyu Xu, Albert L. Bryan, Jasmine R. Parks and Kara N. Gibson
Water 2022, 14(13), 2003; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14132003 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2470
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) deposition and accumulation in the abiotic and biotic environments of a stream ecosystem were studied. This study aimed to link labile Hg in porewater to bioaccumulative Hg in biota. Sediment cores, porewaters, and biota were sampled from four sites along the [...] Read more.
Mercury (Hg) deposition and accumulation in the abiotic and biotic environments of a stream ecosystem were studied. This study aimed to link labile Hg in porewater to bioaccumulative Hg in biota. Sediment cores, porewaters, and biota were sampled from four sites along the Fourmile Branch (SC, USA) and measured for total Hg (THg) and methyl-Hg (MHg) concentrations. Water quality parameters were also measured at the sediment–water interface (SWI) to model the Hg speciation. In general, Hg concentrations in porewaters and bulk sediment were relatively high, and most of the sediment Hg was in the solid phase as non-labile species. Surface sediment presented higher Hg concentrations than the medium and bottom layers. Mercury methylation and MHg production in the sediment was primarily influenced by sulfate levels, since positive correlations were observed between sulfate and Hg in the porewaters. The majority of Hg species at the SWI were in non-labile form, and the dominant labile Hg species was complexed with dissolved organic carbon. MHg concentrations in the aquatic food web biomagnified with trophic levels (biofilm, invertebrates, and fish), increasing by 3.31 times per trophic level. Based on the derived data, a modified MHg magnification model was established to estimate the Hg bioaccumulation at any trophic level using Hg concentrations in the abiotic environment (i.e., porewater). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Chain Transfer of Contaminants in Aquatic Environments during the Global Change)
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15 pages, 12269 KiB  
Article
Zooplankton as Mercury Repository in Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy): Biomass Composition and Stable Isotope Analysis
by Laura Marziali, Roberta Piscia, Lucia Valsecchi, Claudio Roscioli and Marina Manca
Water 2022, 14(5), 680; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14050680 - 22 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2061
Abstract
Total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations were analyzed in zooplankton (≥450 and ≥850 µm size fractions) collected seasonally over 6 years in Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy), characterized by a legacy mercury contamination. Analysis of δ 15N and δ13C stable [...] Read more.
Total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations were analyzed in zooplankton (≥450 and ≥850 µm size fractions) collected seasonally over 6 years in Lake Maggiore (Northern Italy), characterized by a legacy mercury contamination. Analysis of δ 15N and δ13C stable isotopes was carried out to trace how taxa with different trophic levels and carbon sources contributed to mercury concentrations and trends. THg ranged between 44–213 µg kg−1 d.w. and MeHg 15–93 µg kg−1 d.w., representing 24–61% of THg. Values showed strong seasonal variations, with peaks in winter, due to the high biomass of predator taxa (Bythotrephes longimanus, Leptodora kindtii) and of Daphnia longispina-galeata gr. A positive correlation between THg and MeHg and δ15N signature was observed. D. longispina-galeata gr. prevailed in both size fractions, substantially contributing to THg and MeHg concentrations. Δ13C signature was strictly bound to lake thermal circulation dynamics. Mercury stock in the zooplankton compartment ranged between 19–140 ng THg m−2 and 6–44 ng MeHg m−2 for the ≥450 µm size fraction and between 2–66 ng THg m−2 and 1–7 ng MeHg m−2 for the ≥850 µm fraction, with the highest values in spring when zooplanktivorous fish actively prey in the pelagic zone. The results highlighted the crucial role of zooplankton as a repository of mercury, easily available to higher trophic levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Chain Transfer of Contaminants in Aquatic Environments during the Global Change)
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Review

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14 pages, 1201 KiB  
Review
Climate Change Implications for Metal and Metalloid Dynamics in Aquatic Ecosystems and its Context within the Decade of Ocean Sciences
by Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis and Natascha Wosnick
Water 2022, 14(15), 2415; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152415 - 4 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3180
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities are affecting marine ecosystems, notably coastal ones, in multiple ways and at increasing rates, leading to habitat degradation, loss of biodiversity, and greater exposure of flora and fauna to chemical contaminants, with serious effects on ocean health. Chemical pollution, in particular, [...] Read more.
Anthropogenic activities are affecting marine ecosystems, notably coastal ones, in multiple ways and at increasing rates, leading to habitat degradation, loss of biodiversity, and greater exposure of flora and fauna to chemical contaminants, with serious effects on ocean health. Chemical pollution, in particular, is a significant negative stressor for aquatic ecosystems, both oceanic and coastal, and has recently been identified as a priority for conservation efforts. Metals and metalloids, in particular, present environmental persistence, bioavailability, tendency to bioaccumulate along the trophic chain, and potential toxic effects. However, the current scenario of climate change is increasingly affecting the aquatic environment, altering water mass flows and the transport of pollutants, aggravating toxic effects and ecological risks. Moreover, although traditional sources of contamination have been studied for decades, many knowledge gaps persist, in addition to the emerging effects of climate change that are still poorly studied. In this regard, this review aims to discuss climate change implications for metal and metalloid dynamics in aquatic ecosystems and its context within the Decade of Ocean Sciences. We also discuss how an increasing interest in plastic pollution has led to contamination by metals and metalloids being neglected, requiring mutual efforts to move forward in the understating of the negative and often lethal impacts of this type of pollutants, thus aiming at prioritizing contamination by metals and metalloids not just in the oceans, but in all water bodies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Chain Transfer of Contaminants in Aquatic Environments during the Global Change)
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