CO₂ leakage simulation: effects of the pH decrease on fertilisation and larval development of Paracentrotus lividus and sediment metals toxicity

ABSTRACT

Carbon capture and storage has become a new mitigation option to reduce anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. The effects of the CO₂-related acidification, associated with unpredictable leaks of CO₂ during the operational phases were studied using the Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin-liquid-phase-assays (fertilisation and embryo-larval development tests). Besides to the direct effects of the CO₂-associated pH decrease, the possible effects on marine sediment toxicity were studied by exposing the urchin larvae to elutriate of sediments with different metals concentration, which were subjected to various pH treatments. The resulted median toxic effect pH ranged from 6.33 ± 0.02 and 6.91 ± 0.01 for the egg fertilisation, and between 6.66 ± 0.03 and 7.16 ± 0.01 for the larval development assays. Concentrations of Co, Zn, As, Cu, and Fe were detected in the sediment elutriates. For all the sediment elutriates tested the amount of the dissolved Zn increased in parallel with the pH reductions. Correlated effects of acidification, biological response, and the presence of dissolved metals were observed in this work evidencing that the most important factor controlling the reduction of egg fertilisation and larval development success was the combined effects of the reduction of pH and the presence of the contaminants (mainly Zn, Co, and As).

KEYWORDS:

• Acidification
• sea-urchin larvae
• toxicity
• sediment elutriate
• metals

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to international Grant from Bank Santander/UNESCO Chair UNITWIN/WiCop for funding this work. MD Basallote and A Rodríguez-Romero thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the Postdoctoral Fellowship granted under application references FJCI-2015-24765 and JCI-2015-26873, respectively. M.R. de Orte thanks FAPESP for the Postdoctoral fellowship granted under process 2014/22273-1. The authors thank the ‘Servicios Centrales de Ciencia y Tecnología’ of the University of Cádiz for the analysis of the metals. This is a contribution to the CEI·MAR series publications.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

M. Dolores Basallote, PhD, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Huelva. Her academic interests include the toxicity of environmental pollutants (mainly trace elements) and the effects of climate change (i.e. Ocean Acidification) on marine ecosystems.

Araceli Rodríguez-Romero, PhD, Department of Chemistry and Process & Resource Engineering, ETSIIT, University of Cantabria. Her academic interests include marine sediment toxicity assessment studies and marine organisms responses to climate changes.

Manoela R. De Orte, PhD, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo. Has experience in the area of Oceanography, with emphasis on interaction between marine organisms and environmental parameters, ecotoxicology and biogeochemistry.

T. Ángel DelValls, PhD, Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Cádiz. His academic interest include environmental impact and integrated tools for environmental quality assessments in aquatic ecosystems.

Inmaculada Riba, PhD, Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Cádiz. Her academic interests include marine sediment quality guidelines and environmental risk assessment.

ORCID

M. Dolores Basallote http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2011-3806

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the projects CTM2011-28437-C02-02/TECNO, and CTM2012-36476-C02-01/TECNO.