Influence of mussel biological variability on pollution biomarkers

• Published in: Environmental Research
• Main Authors: González-Fernández, Carmen, Albentosa, Marina, Campillo, Juan, A, Viñas, Lucía, Fumega, José, Franco, Angeles, Besada, Victoria, González-Quijano, Amelia, Bellas, Juan
• Other Authors: Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO, Murcia centre, Varadero 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Oceanographic Centre of Vigo, Stay out, Canido, 36390 VIGO, Spain, This study has been funded by BIOCOM project (CTM2012-30737, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and bya Fund Management Agreement between the IEO and the SpanishMinistry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment (2013–2015).Carmen González-Fernández was recipient of a predoctoral fel-lowship from the IEO Program of Research Training 2012–2016
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Biomonitoring Mussels Physiological biomarkers Antioxidant biomarkers Biological variability Confounding factors; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04154994; https://hal.science/hal-04154994/document; https://hal.science/hal-04154994/file/2015%20Gonz%C3%A1lez-Fern%C3%A1ndez%20et%20al%20%20YENRS.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2014.11.015

International audience This study deals with the identification and characterization of biological variables that may affect some of the biological responses used as pollution biomarkers. With this aim, during the 2012 mussel survey of the Spanish Marine Pollution monitoring program (SMP), at the North-Atlantic coast, several quantitative and qualitative biological variables were measured (corporal and shell indices, gonadal development and reserves composition). Studied biomarkers were antioxidant enzymatic activities (CAT, GST, GR), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the physiological rates integrated in the SFG biomarker (CR, AE, RR). Site pollution was considered as the chemical concentration in the whole tissues of mussels. A great geographical variability was observed for the biological variables, which was mainly linked to the differences in food availability along the studied region. An inverse relationship between antioxidant enzymes and the nutritional status of the organism was evidenced, whereas LPO was positively related to nutritional status and, therefore, with higher metabolic costs, with their associated ROS generation. Mussel condition was also inversely related to CR, and therefore to SFG, suggesting that mussels keep an "ecological memory" from the habitat where they have been collected. No overall relationship was observed between pollution and biomarkers, but a significant overall effect of biological variables on both biochemical and physiological biomarkers was evidenced. It was concluded that when a wide range of certain environmental factors, as food availability, coexist in the same monitoring program, it determines a great variability in mussel populations which mask the effect of contaminants on biomarkers.