Current approaches and future directions for contaminant-related impact assessments in coastal environments: Brazilian perspective

Abstract

Coastal ecosystems are subject to the discharge of contaminants via sewage, industrial effluents, storm water runoff, dredged material and accidental chemical spills. The majority of contaminants reaching the ocean tend to be adsorbed to particulate matter and eventually settle on the ocean floor, where they can deleteriously affect the sediment-associated community. The degree to which a receiving body is impacted is usually assessed by the analysis of the sediments from the area of concern. If chemical data generated by monitoring programs are available, they can be compared to Sediment Quality Guidelines to help identify a potential problem. A more cost-effective approach involves the use of a sensitive toxicity test to identify areas of concern, with comprehensive chemical analyses conducted at a later stage and focusing on the toxic sites identified in the initial screening survey. More complex studies involve the assessment of the benthic communities, in addition to toxicity tests and chemical analyses can be conducted. While methodologies for chemical and benthic community assessments are relatively well established, several approaches can be used to determine sediment toxicity, including acute or chronic tests, conducted in the laboratory or in situ, on the whole sediment or the liquid phase. Several factors should be considered when interpreting toxicity test results, such as the enhancement of toxicity by the photo-oxidation of organic chemicals by ultraviolet light (UV), and confounding factors such as salinity, ammonia, sulfides, particle size distribution, organic matter content, and acid volatile sulfides (AVS). Once an impact has been identified, toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) procedures can be applied to help establish the chemical or classes of chemicals responsible for the observed adverse effects. The international and Brazilian scientific literatures are reviewed to illustrate these approaches.

Sensitivity of the marine benthic copepod Tisbe biminiensis (copepoda, harpacticoida) to potassium dichromate and sediment particle size

“…This potentially dangerous anthropogenic input is typically associated with accelerated human population growth, the development of coastal areas, agricultural, industrial and municipal discharge as well as commercial and recreational activities, with major impact at the community and ecosystem level (KENNISH, 1997;NIPPER, 2000). Sediments are known to effectively sequester hydrophobic chemical pollutants such as heavy metals and organic pollutants entering bodies of water (McCREADY et al, 2006).…”

Risco Ambiental

“…A crescente industrialização tem causado um aumento na poluição, principalmente nos ambientes aquáticos, que recebem diretamente substâncias químicas de despejos industriais e domésticos, sendo as regiões costeiras as mais sujeitas aos impactos das atividades antropogênicas [179,180] . A análise de risco é reconhecida, internacionalmente, como um método científico [181] e é empregada muitas vezes para identificar as possíveis falhas associadas às operações envolvendo substâncias nocivas e perigosas.…”

Effect of Artemia franciscana on the Removal of Nickel by Bioaccumulation

“…In the past, research has focused on the use of Artemia nauplii as a test organism for a wide variety of contaminants such as metals Sarabia et al, 1998;Hadjispyrou et al, 2001;Brix et al, 2003, trace elements Petrucci et al, 1995 , pollutants produced by incineration plants Knulst andSodergren, 1994 , andantifouling compounds Okamura et al, 2000;Hadjispyrou et al, 2001 Artemia nauplii have also been used in marine toxicity testing in coastal areas Wells, 1999;Nipper, 2000 , and for the establishment of alternative toxicity tests Calleja et al, 1994;Parra et al, 2001 . The above mentioned literature shows the effect of Artemia in the toxicity studies, and in the case of the present study Artemia similarly acts as a bioaccumulator for the reduction of nickel from the synthetic wastewater.…”