A modular estuarine mesocosm

Lauth, John; Cherry, Donald S.; Buikema, Arthur L.; Scott, Geoffrey I.

doi:10.1002/etc.5620150504

Cited by 26 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Two weeks were necessary to reach a state of equilibrium with anoxic conditions in the sediments, the sedimentation of the particles, and the homogenization of the microbial community composition. The 14-day stabilization time is consistent with earlier mesocosm studies for estuarine ecosystems 40 41 . At the end of the contamination, recovery mass balances were about 115 ± 18% of the Ce (pulse dosing) and 60 ± 30% of the Ce (multiple dosing) which is in agreement with 84% of recovery observed in ref.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

An adaptable mesocosm platform for performing integrated assessments of nanomaterial risk in complex environmental systems

Auffan

Tella

Santaella

et al. 2014

Sci Rep

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Physical-chemists, (micro)biologists, and ecologists need to conduct meaningful experiments to study the environmental risk of engineered nanomaterials with access to relevant mechanistic data across several spatial and temporal scales. Indoor aquatic mesocosms (60L) that can be tailored to virtually mimic any ecosystem appear as a particularly well-suited device. Here, this concept is illustrated by a pilot study aimed at assessing the distribution of a CeO2-based nanomaterial within our system at low concentration (1.5 mg/L). Physico-chemical as well as microbiological parameters took two weeks to equilibrate. These parameters were found to be reproducible across the 9-mesocosm setup over a 45-day period of time. Recovery mass balances of 115 ± 18% and 60 ± 30% of the Ce were obtained for the pulse dosing and the chronic dosing, respectively. This demonstrated the relevance of our experimental approach that allows for adequately monitoring the fate and impact of a given nanomaterial.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

An adaptable mesocosm platform for performing integrated assessments of nanomaterial risk in complex environmental systems

Auffan

Tella

Santaella

et al. 2014

Sci Rep

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“…Salinity was held constant with a collective average of 20. The other parameters varied diurnally in accordance with daytime heating and photosynthetic activity; however, these differences were within the established norms for this system (see Supplementary Figs S1-S4) 7,11,24 .…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 57%

“…These systems are representative of Spartina (cordgrass) dominated estuaries and have been successfully used for estimating the coastal impact of several other contaminants, including atrazine, fipronil, endosulfan and nutrients ( Fig. 1) [7][8][9][10] . In this study, three replicates of a complex ecosystem were constructed to model the edge of a tidal marsh creek.…”

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confidence: 99%

Transfer of gold nanoparticles from the water column to the estuarine food web

et al. 2009

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Within the next five years the manufacture of large quantities of nanomaterials may lead to unintended contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems 1 . The unique physical, chemical and electronic properties of nanomaterials allow new modes of interaction with environmental systems that can have unexpected impacts 2,3 . Here, we show that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web in three laboratory-constructed estuarine mesocosms containing sea water, sediment, sea grass, microbes, biofilms, snails, clams, shrimp and fish. A single dose of gold nanorods (65 nm length 3 15 nm diameter) was added to each mesocosm and their distribution in the aqueous and sediment phases monitored over 12 days. Nanorods partitioned between biofilms, sediments, plants, animals and sea water with a recovery of 84.4%. Clams and biofilms accumulated the most nanoparticles on a per mass basis, suggesting that gold nanorods can readily pass from the water column to the marine food web.The transport of contaminants to oceans through estuaries is often mediated by chemical and physical processes associated with mixing fresh water with sea water. As this region is also the habitat for many commercially and ecologically important shellfish and finfish, it could also be a critical point of nanomaterial contaminant entry into the marine food web. For example, salinity gradients, such as those found in tidal mixing zones, typically promote the flocculation and precipitation of organic matter and naturally occurring particulates 4,5 . Organic matter and particulates can be consumed by detritivores or shellfish, and they can also be a sink for anthropogenic material through burial in sediments 6 . At present little is known about the physicochemical behaviour of nanomaterial in the mixing zone, precluding prediction of their eventual environmental distribution. Measurement of nanomaterial distributions in model estuarine systems is a necessary first step towards the evaluation of the effects of nanoparticles on the environment.This study used a series of three replicate estuarine mesocosms as laboratories for measuring the behaviour of nanoparticles in complex environments. These systems are representative of Spartina (cordgrass) dominated estuaries and have been successfully used for estimating the coastal impact of several other contaminants, including atrazine, fipronil, endosulfan and nutrients (Fig. 1) [7][8][9][10] . In this study, three replicates of a complex ecosystem were constructed to model the edge of a tidal marsh creek. The systems were made up from natural, unfiltered sea water from Cherry Point Boat Landing on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, USA (salinity determined by conductivity and adjusted to 20‰ by the addition of deionized water) and contained a periodically submerged sediment tray in the primary tank and an attached reservoir for water storage (isolated with a screen) to simulate a tidal cycle [9][10][11] . Sediments were planted with Spartina alterniflora, 100 juvenile Mercenari...

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“…The use of microcosms in pollution studies has been tried in a number of environments, including wetlands (Johnson, 1986), salt-marshes (O'Neill, Cripe, Mueller, Connolly & Prichard, 1989, soils (Van Beelen, Fleuren-Kemila, Huys, van Montfort & van Vlaardingen, 1991), freshwaters (Meador, Taub, & Sibley, 1992), estuaries (Lauth, Scott, Cherry & Buikema, 1996), and the deep-sea (Gross, 2000). Chapman & Long (1983) pointed out the need for relevant bioassays as part of a broad-based approach in determining the impact of pollutants in the marine sedimentary environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An assessment of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on meiofaunal assemblages using microcosm bioassays

Lee

Correa

2007

Marine Environmental Research

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Microcosms were used to assess the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on the littoral meiofaunal assemblages of the Atacama region of northern Chile. The specific purpose was to establish a cause and effect relationship between the elevated copper concentrations and altered meiofaunal assemblages observed at the study sites. Meiofaunal assemblages were exposed to a series of copper concentrations to assess general toxicity, both densities and taxa diversities decreased with increasing copper. Natural coarse sediments were mixed with a tailings substitute to assess the physical impact of the tailings dumping on meiofaunal assemblages. Meiofaunal assemblage densities increased with increasing amounts of tailings substitute, entirely due to an increase in surface utilising foraminiferans. However, taxa diversities decreased as the interstitial spaces became blocked. Finally, the microcosms were used to conduct bioassays of sediments and seawaters from the impacted sites. The sediments from the impacted sites proved to be toxic resulting in reduced meiofau- Preprint submitted to Elsevier Science 1 November 2006ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT nal densities and taxa diversities. Seawater samples did not prove to be significantly toxic. The use of microcosms has allowed the effects of the physical and chemical components of tailings to be assessed individually, which was not possible in the field. Additionally, it allowed a cause and effect relationship to be established between elevated concentrations of porewater copper observed in the field and the reduced densities and taxa diversities of the meiofaunal assemblages observed at the same sites.

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A modular estuarine mesocosm

Cited by 26 publications

References 7 publications

An adaptable mesocosm platform for performing integrated assessments of nanomaterial risk in complex environmental systems

An adaptable mesocosm platform for performing integrated assessments of nanomaterial risk in complex environmental systems

Transfer of gold nanoparticles from the water column to the estuarine food web

An assessment of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on meiofaunal assemblages using microcosm bioassays

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