Abstract
PAHs and heavy metals are characteristic pollutants in urbanized coastal areas, especially those with industrial activity. Given this context and the ability of Macrocystis pyrifera to drift when detached and provide trophic subsidy in coastal systems, we analyzed the potential transfer of pollutants to the herbivore Tetrapygus niger, through diet, in an industrialized coastal zone in Central Chile (Caleta Horcón) and characterized the impacted zone using diverse polluted ecotoxicological indices. For this purpose, a culture experiment was conducted where M. pyrifera individuals from Algarrobo (control site) were cultivated in Caleta Horcón and then used as food for T. niger. The contents of both PAHs and heavy metal contents were subsequently determined in algal tissue and sea urchin gonads as well as in the seawater. The results show that algae cultivated in Caleta Horcón had higher concentrations of naphthalene (NAF) compared to those from a low industrial impact zone (Algarrobo) (2.5 and 1.8 mg kg−1, respectively). The concentrations of Cu, As, and Cd were higher in Caleta Horcón than in Algarrobo in both M. pyrifera and T. niger. For all metals, including Pb, higher concentrations were present in T. niger than in M. pyrifera (between 5 and 798 times higher). Additionally, as indicated by the toxicological indices MPI (0.00804) and PLI (10.89), Caleta Horcón is highly contaminated with metals compared to Algarrobo (0.0006 and 0.015, respectively). Finally, the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and trophic transfer factor (TTF) values were greater than one in most cases, with values in Caleta Horcón exceeding those in Algarrobo by one or two orders of magnitude. This study provides evidence that Caleta Horcón is a highly impacted zone (HIZ) compared to Algarrobo, in addition to evidence that the biomagnification of certain pollutants, including the possible responses to contaminants, are apparently not exclusively transferred to T. niger through diet.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) form one of the most common groups of pollutants in the environment [1,2]
In Macrocystis pyrifera tissues, the concentrations of most analyzed PAHs were under the detection limit, except for naphthalene (NAF), whose concentrations were above its detection limit (0.08 mg kg−1) and were 1.8 mg kg−1 for algae from the non-impacted site (Algarrobo, NIZ) and 2.5 mg kg−1 for algae from the highly impacted site (Caleta Horcón, highly impacted zone (HIZ)) (Figure 3)
Since the PAH concentrations in the T. niger gonad tissue were below the detection limit, the trophic transfer factor (TTF) was not applicable to this sea urchin in this study
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) form one of the most common groups of pollutants in the environment [1,2]. PAHs are organic molecules composed of H and C with two or more aromatic rings, with naphthalene (NAF) being the simplest in structure with only two aromatic rings The structure of these compounds can provide thermal and photoresistance, making them highly resistant to degradation under natural conditions in the environment, they may be biodegraded by organisms in small quantities [3,4]. They have low water solubility and vapour pressure, which means they can be extremely volatile depending on the altitude and environmental temperature at which they are found [5] These pollutants mainly originate from fossil fuel extraction, combustion, and spills, as well as the generally incomplete combustion of organic matter, such as wood in forest fires. Their presence in the environment has generated widespread concern and has been shown to negatively affect both human and environmental health [8,9,10,11]
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