Sediment Zn-release during post-drought re-flooding: Assessing environmental risk to Hyalella azteca and Daphnia magna

Abstract

Hydrologic variability exacerbated by climate change affects biogeochemical cycling in sediments through changes in pH, redox, and microbial activity. These alterations affect the lability and speciation of metals, such that toxicity may be observed in otherwise non-toxic sediments. In this study, we investigate the effects of drought and reflooding on metal bioavailability in sediments with low to moderate concentrations of Zn (18–270 mg kg−1). Sediments were collected from coastal wetlands in Michigan, dried (36-days) and re-inundated in lab microcosms. We investigated the relationships between key parameters, for surface/porewater (dissolved and particulate metals, dissolved oxygen, redox (Eh), reduced iron, and temperature) and sediment (simultaneously extracted metals (SEM), acid volatile sulfide (AVS), Fe/Mn-oxyhydroxide, organic carbon, water content analyses, and diffusive gradient in thin films (DGTs) metal concentrations). Porewater Zn increased with inundation of dried sediments for all sediment types, exceeding United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) chronic criteria for freshwater organisms, and decreased as sediments became reduced. Effects on Hyalella azteca (7-day exposure) and Daphnia magna (10-day exposure) were quantified. Results show decreased growth of H. azteca for sites with elevated Zn and increased Zn-body concentration (BCZn) in the most contaminated sediment type. Further, BCZn was negatively correlated with H. azteca growth. D. magna survival, growth, and reproduction were not affected. DGT metal concentrations were more reflective of porewater than organism bioaccumulation. Outcomes of predictive toxicology methods are compared to toxicity test results and suggestions are provided for model improvements. This study demonstrates that post-drought re-flooding of sediments affects Zn biogeochemical cycling with potentially adverse effects on benthic organisms, even in sediments with only moderately elevated concentrations (>150 mg kg−1).