A Weight of Evidence (WOE) Approach to Assess Environmental Hazard of Marine Sediments from Adriatic Offshore Platform Area

Abstract

European legislative framework supports a multidisciplinary strategy of environmental monitoring because the environment is a complex system of abiotic and biotic interactions, and it should not be studied and protected by looking at one single aspect. The resulting heterogeneous data request to be carefully processed, and the application of Weight of Evidence (WOE) approaches is, thereby, an integrated validated tool. In this perspective, the present study aims to: (i). apply a specific model (Sediqualsoft) based on the WOE approach for processing multidisciplinary data related to four Lines Of Scientific Evidence (LOEs: chemical analyses, ecotoxicological bioassays, bioaccumulation tests and biomarkers) regarding sediments from an area of the Adriatic Sea; (ii). evaluate the usefulness of this specific integrated approach to estimate the potential environmental hazard due to the presence of gas production platforms respect to the traditional approach of sediment chemical characterization. This latter recognized a more contaminated area within 100 m of the platforms in which the Sediqualsoft model showed the presence of a chemical hazard, ranging from moderate to severe, and identified the contaminants (e.g., some metals, benzo(a)pyrene and acenaphthene) most responsible for it. A significant hazard also appeared in some of the sampled stations by analyzing the LOEs dedicated to the biological responses. The choice of different reference values (regulatory limits, threshold values or concentrations measured in the control area) influenced only the chemical hazard but not the overall integration with other LOEs, showing a moderate hazard for the majority of stations. Here, the concentrations measured in a control area are firstly proposed as possible reference values in Sediqualsoft model applications; this could be of particular relevance when Sediment Quality Guidelines are not available for all the measured substances. Moreover, the limitations of a conventional pass-to-fail approach or worst-case scenario were overcoming interpreting whole chemical and ecotoxicological results. All data analyzed and discussed confirm Sediqualsoft as a suitable tool for processing environmental data, including those first processed here on a monitoring scenario of gas platforms that discharge Produced Water into the sea.

Biomarkers for pollution in caged mussels from three reservoirs in Bulgaria: A pilot study

“…Integrative indices are widely used to summarizing biomarker responses and simplifying their interpretation in biomonitoring programs [28,29]. Beliaeff and Burgeot [85] created the integrated biomarker response (IBR) especially for biomonitoring purposes with mussels.…”

“…Thus, in the "Mussel Watch" monitoring programs, resident and/or caged mussels can be used as bioindicators of chemical pollutants [24]. Recently, Avio et al, Catarino et al, d'Ericco et al, Manfra et al, and Railo et al used caged mussels in specific areas to investigate pollution effects related to different anthropogenic activity, such as plastic pollution, wastewater discharge, wreck removal, gas production and dredging activities [25,26,27,28,29]. Furthermore, according to Schøyen et al, mussel caging is particularly valuable when the indigenous mussels are absent in the study sites [30].…”

Application of a Multidisciplinary Weight of Evidence Approach as a Tool for Monitoring the Ecological Risk of Dredging Activities

“…Bioaccumulation of chemicals in wild or transplanted organisms provides information on bioavailability, whereas measuring sublethal biological effects allows a sensitive early-warning sight at the molecular, cellular, and functional level, highlighting alterations and mechanisms of action prognostic for the onset of adverse effects at higher levels of biological organization (Broeg and Lehtonen, 2006;Moore et al, 2006;Regoli and Giuliani, 2014;Benedetti et al, 2015). Such integration of chemicals in abiotic matrices, their bioavailability, biomarkers, bioassays, and benthic communities have been developed in recent years through the quantitative WOE model Sediqualsoft, applied in various environmental risk assessment case-studies (Benedetti et al, 2014;Bebianno et al, 2015;Mestre et al, 2017;Lehtonen et al, 2019;Regoli et al, 2019;Morroni et al, 2020;Manfra et al, 2021). Different LOEs are independently elaborated through specific and weighted criteria, which provide both quantitative and qualitative hazard indices before their final integration in a WOE assessment (Piva et al, 2011;Regoli et al, 2019).…”

Fate of Particulate Matter Associated with Produced Water Discharge by Offshore Platforms in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

“…The main objective of the Italian monitoring programme is to evaluate the occurrence (if any) of dangerous effects for the marine environment from the PW discharges in the sea, and if the spread of pollutants and the potential effects are limited to the immediate surroundings of offshore installations. In the neighboring of some platforms, abnormal amounts of some substances (metals, PAH, and aliphatic hydrocarbons) detected in the sediment sampled within 50 m from the PW source have been pointed out from the monitoring programs results carried out so far [5][6][7]. Nowadays, several field measurement and numerical modeling studies investigated, with high accuracy, the fate and dispersion processes of the PW to assess the effects of discharge and the potential risks for the marine ecosystems [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…The integration among model results and in situ observations allowed us to detect the mid-term distribution of the suspended solid particles associated with the PW plume, discerning them from the effluent water one. Therefore, the high sediment contamination levels, detected close to the platforms during past monitoring surveys [5][6][7], and the PW effluent discharge have been compared and related to the modeling results. The paper approach thus lays the groundwork to assess the role of PW suspended particulate matter and its associated substances on the potential risk effects for the marine environment.…”