Health status of Pomatoschistus microps populations in relation to pollution and natural stressors: implications for ecological risk assessment

Abstract

Effects induced on wild populations by recurrent environmental contamination may difficult the ecological risk assessment of punctual pollution events such as oil spills. Here, the issue was addressed by comparing the health status of Pomatoschistus microps populations from four NW Iberian estuaries, using an integrated chemical–biological monitoring. Despite high seasonal variability, the parameters measured discriminated estuaries with different contamination levels and associated biological effects with chemical and abiotic stress. The decreased health status of fish from polluted sites strengthens the need of considering pollution-induced background effects and seasonal variability when assessing impacts and risks of oil and other chemical spills.

Keywords::

• Common goby
• biomarkers
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• metals
• integrated chemical–biological monitoring
• redundancy analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Mr. André Sousa and Drs. Inês Lima, Manuela Frasco and Luís Vieira for support provided during the technical part of the work.

Declaration of interest

The first part of this work was done in the scope of the EROCIPS project (Community Initiative Programme INTERREG IIIB “ATLANTIC AREA”, Code: 168-EROCIPS) and the second part was done in the scope of the project “RAMOCS−Implementation of risk assessment methodologies for oil and chemical spills in the European marine environment” (EU ERA Net initiative, 6th Framework Programme, AMPERA Joint Call for Projects [ERAC-CT2005-016165]) funded by the Portuguese Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) and FEDER funds (ERA-AMPERA/0001/2007). The authors report no declarations of interest.

Appendix A

Water quality variables

Table A.1. Results of the statistical analyses (one-way ANOVAs) performed to investigate differences among sampling sites and among seasons in the water variables measured.

Appendix B

Chemical analyses in sediments and fish

Table B.1. Results of the statistical analyses (one-way ANOVAs) performed to investigate differences among sampling sites and among seasons in the concentrations of metals measured in sediments and fish body.

Table B.2. Results of the statistical analyses (one-way ANOVAs) performed to investigate differences among sampling sites and among seasons in the concentrations of PAHs measured in sediments.

Table B.3. Results of the statistical analyses (one-way ANOVAs) performed to investigate differences among sampling sites and among seasons in the concentrations of PAHs measured in fish body.

Appendix C

Biological parameters

Table C.1. Results of the statistical analyses (two-way ANOVAs) performed to investigate differences among sampling sites and among seasons in the biological parameters measured.