High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors
Mercury contamination is a global environmental problem. This pollutant is highly toxic and persistent which makes it extremely susceptible to biomagnify, i.e. increase its concentrations as it moves up the food chain, reaching levels that threaten wildlife and, ultimately, ecosystems’ function and...
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ftunivsantcomp:oai:minerva.usc.es:10347/30332 2023-05-15T17:32:03+02:00 High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors Boquete Seoane, María Teresa Aboal Viñas, Jesús Ramón Villares Pazos, Rubén Dorado García, Uxía Fernández Escribano, José Ángel Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto Interdisciplinar de Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS) application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30332 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 eng eng Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 Water Research 234, 1 (2023), 119793 0043-1354 http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30332 doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/) Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Dogwhelk Food chains Mussel Nitrogen isotope ratio Marine pollution info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion ftunivsantcomp https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 2023-03-22T00:26:26Z Mercury contamination is a global environmental problem. This pollutant is highly toxic and persistent which makes it extremely susceptible to biomagnify, i.e. increase its concentrations as it moves up the food chain, reaching levels that threaten wildlife and, ultimately, ecosystems’ function and structure. Mercury monitoring is thus crucial to determine its potential to damage the environment. In this study, we assessed the temporal trends of the concentrations of Hg in two coastal animal species closely connected by a predator-prey interaction, and evaluated its potential transfer between trophic levels using the δ15N signatures of the two species. For this, we performed a multi-year survey of the concentrations of total Hg and the values of δ15N in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (prey) and the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus (predator) sampled along ∼1500 km of the North Atlantic coast of Spain over a 30-year period (five surveys between 1990 and 2021). Concentrations of Hg decreased significantly between the first and the last survey in the two species studied. Except for the 1990 survey, the concentrations of Hg in mussels were amongst the lowest registered in the literature for the North East Atlantic Ocean (NEAO) and the Mediterranean Sea (MS) between 1985 and 2020. Nonetheless, we detected Hg biomagnification in almost all surveys. Worryingly, trophic magnification factors obtained here for total Hg were high and comparable to the found in the literature for methylmercury, the most toxic and readily biomagnified form of this element. The δ15N values were useful to detect Hg biomagnification under normal circumstances. However, we found that nitrogen pollution of coastal waters differentially affected the δ15N signatures of mussels and dogwhelks limiting the use of this parameter for this purpose. We conclude that Hg biomagnification could constitute an important environmental hazard even when found at very low concentrations in the lower trophic levels. Also, we warn that use of δ15N in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North East Atlantic Dogwhelk Nucella lapillus Minerva - Repositorio institucional da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) Water Research 234 119793 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Minerva - Repositorio institucional da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivsantcomp |
language |
English |
topic |
Dogwhelk Food chains Mussel Nitrogen isotope ratio Marine pollution |
spellingShingle |
Dogwhelk Food chains Mussel Nitrogen isotope ratio Marine pollution Boquete Seoane, María Teresa Aboal Viñas, Jesús Ramón Villares Pazos, Rubén Dorado García, Uxía Fernández Escribano, José Ángel High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
topic_facet |
Dogwhelk Food chains Mussel Nitrogen isotope ratio Marine pollution |
description |
Mercury contamination is a global environmental problem. This pollutant is highly toxic and persistent which makes it extremely susceptible to biomagnify, i.e. increase its concentrations as it moves up the food chain, reaching levels that threaten wildlife and, ultimately, ecosystems’ function and structure. Mercury monitoring is thus crucial to determine its potential to damage the environment. In this study, we assessed the temporal trends of the concentrations of Hg in two coastal animal species closely connected by a predator-prey interaction, and evaluated its potential transfer between trophic levels using the δ15N signatures of the two species. For this, we performed a multi-year survey of the concentrations of total Hg and the values of δ15N in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (prey) and the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus (predator) sampled along ∼1500 km of the North Atlantic coast of Spain over a 30-year period (five surveys between 1990 and 2021). Concentrations of Hg decreased significantly between the first and the last survey in the two species studied. Except for the 1990 survey, the concentrations of Hg in mussels were amongst the lowest registered in the literature for the North East Atlantic Ocean (NEAO) and the Mediterranean Sea (MS) between 1985 and 2020. Nonetheless, we detected Hg biomagnification in almost all surveys. Worryingly, trophic magnification factors obtained here for total Hg were high and comparable to the found in the literature for methylmercury, the most toxic and readily biomagnified form of this element. The δ15N values were useful to detect Hg biomagnification under normal circumstances. However, we found that nitrogen pollution of coastal waters differentially affected the δ15N signatures of mussels and dogwhelks limiting the use of this parameter for this purpose. We conclude that Hg biomagnification could constitute an important environmental hazard even when found at very low concentrations in the lower trophic levels. Also, we warn that use of δ15N in ... |
author2 |
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto Interdisciplinar de Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Boquete Seoane, María Teresa Aboal Viñas, Jesús Ramón Villares Pazos, Rubén Dorado García, Uxía Fernández Escribano, José Ángel |
author_facet |
Boquete Seoane, María Teresa Aboal Viñas, Jesús Ramón Villares Pazos, Rubén Dorado García, Uxía Fernández Escribano, José Ángel |
author_sort |
Boquete Seoane, María Teresa |
title |
High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
title_short |
High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
title_full |
High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
title_fullStr |
High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
title_full_unstemmed |
High Hg biomagnification in North Atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15N to estimate trophic magnification factors |
title_sort |
high hg biomagnification in north atlantic coast ecosystems and limits to the use of δ15n to estimate trophic magnification factors |
publisher |
Elsevier |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30332 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 |
genre |
North Atlantic North East Atlantic Dogwhelk Nucella lapillus |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North East Atlantic Dogwhelk Nucella lapillus |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 Water Research 234, 1 (2023), 119793 0043-1354 http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30332 doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/) Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119793 |
container_title |
Water Research |
container_volume |
234 |
container_start_page |
119793 |
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1766129968378544128 |