Mytilus galloprovincialis as bioindicator in embryotoxicity testing to evaluate sediment quality in the lagoon of Venice (Italy)

Abstract

The possibility of using Mytilus galloprovincialis from natural populations of the lagoon of Venice in toxicity bioassays based on embryo development, according to international standard methods, was investigated. In order to valuate this method for the lagoon, iterative steps including evaluation of reproducibility, sensitivity and discriminatory capacity towards some pure substances and environmental samples were performed. Evaluation of sensitivity towards a reference toxicant (copper) evidenced good replicability and repeatability. Results showed that natural population is better than hatchery population for performing bioassays. Evaluation of applicability to elutriates revealed that the method is able to discriminate among sediments of the lagoon of Venice at different typologies and levels of contamination, showing an important effect for almost all study sites.

Keywords:

• Bioassay
• Reproducibility
• Autochthonous population
• Elutriates

Acknowledgements

This work was financed partly by Project ‘Production, change and vulnerability of estuarine and lagoonal environments of Adriatic Sea’, partly by ‘Orizzonte 2023 Project’ and partly by the Consorzio Ricerche Laguna (Co.Ri.La.) of Venice (Italy). The authors are very grateful to D. Marchetto and D. Tagliapietra. Gabriel Walton revised the English text.