Do Contaminants Originating from State-of-the-Art Treated Wastewater Impact the Ecological Quality of Surface Waters?

Stalter, Daniel; Magdeburg, Axel; Quednow, Kristin; Botzat, Alexandra; Oehlmann, Jörg

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060616

Cited by 53 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…While the differences in organismal responses to mixtures of MPs among species still remain largely to be discovered, altered species composition in natural populations close to waste water treatment plants suggest radical differences in tolerance to MP mixtures among species (e.g. Englert, Zubrod, Schulz, & Bundschuh, ; Münze et al., ; Stalter, Magdeburg, Quednow, Botzat, & Oehlmann, ). Gastropods, for example, may be relatively tolerant to pesticides, while similar concentrations experienced by other, more sensitive species may have detrimental effects on survival and population size (Hua & Relyea, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience to heat waves in the aquatic snail Lymnaea stagnalis: Additive and interactive effects with micropollutants

et al. 2017

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Multiple anthropogenic changes, such as climate change and chemical pollution, threaten the persistence of natural populations. Yet, their potential additive and interactive effects on organismal performance and fitness are poorly understood, thus limiting our ability to predict the effects of the global change. We conducted a laboratory experiment to study the singular and combined effects of experimental heat waves and micropollutants (i.e. low‐concentration toxicants; henceforth micropollutants [MPs]) on the freshwater snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. To comprehensively understand physiological and ecological consequences of stress, we studied a broad range of traits from respiration rate to feeding performance and growth. We also determined traits contributing to fitness and immune responses, as these are key traits in determining both organismal fitness and interspecific (e.g. host–parasite) interactions. We tested whether a constant exposure to MPs affects the ability of snails to tolerate heat waves (8 days of 23.5°C), and subsequently to recover from them, and whether the effects are immediate or delayed. We found strong immediate additive effects of both stressors on reproduction, while they synergistically increased respiration and antagonistically decreased food consumption. Moreover, these effects were transient. Although the heat wave increased metabolic rates, individuals did not increase their resource uptake. This caused an apparent imbalance in resource levels—a probable cause for the observed trade‐off between immune function and reproductive traits (i.e. phenoloxidase‐like activity decreased, while reproductive output increased). In addition, exposure to MPs led to a temporarily reduced reproductive output. Our results indicate that even short‐term heat waves and low concentrations of chemical pollution can have large, mainly additive impacts on organismal fitness (e.g. altering susceptibility to infections and reproductive output). This suggests that long‐term effects of existing stressors and heat waves need to be considered when assessing the resilience of natural populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience to heat waves in the aquatic snail Lymnaea stagnalis: Additive and interactive effects with micropollutants

et al. 2017

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“…These findings matched the results of Stalter et al . (), who found that the use of percentile values did not enhance the strength of correlation between macroinvertebrate communities and several organic contaminants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Prediction of taxon occurrence: a test on taxon‐specific change point values of stream benthic invertebrates

et al. 2016

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Summary Ecological thresholds represent abrupt species responses to minor changes in the environment. However, as aquatic organisms are frequently exposed to multiple stressors, prediction of taxon occurrence is challenging and often associated with much uncertainty. In this study, we analysed the response of stream benthic invertebrates to selected environmental gradients and determined the frequency and predictability of threshold responses. Re‐analysis of taxon‐specific change point values for 213 riverine benthic invertebrate taxa and nine water quality variables showed that the predictive performance was acceptable for 30.4% and excellent for 9.6% of the total number of validated change points (n = 978). In total, 48.3% of the taxa that were predicted to occur (taxon presence predicted) and 67% of the taxa predicted not to occur (taxon absence predicted) were correct but with high variability across taxa and chemical variables. Predictive performance was the highest for stenoecious taxa and for certain chemical variables, such as ammonium nitrogen and the daytime dissolved oxygen concentration. Responses to peak level concentrations of water quality variables were less threshold‐like compared with relationships with mean values. However, model predictions were equal for both of the approaches. Successful prediction of taxon absence at stress levels beyond the change point values showed that the latter can well represent the upper limit of the taxon‐specific range of occurrence. Thus, change points are valuable for establishing and evaluating new water management tools, such as water quality criteria. By contrast, prediction of taxon presence at low levels of stress was associated with relatively high uncertainty, reflecting the limitation of taxon occurrence by stressors other than those investigated.

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“…Further, Ellis (1995) reports that statistical analysis of invertebrate population densities in rivers impacted by urban wastewater discharges reveals a numerical dominance of oligochaetes and low species diversity downstream of combined sewer outfall sites, suggesting that this phenomenon is associated with both physical disturbance due to high turbulent flows and acute toxicity suppressing pollution-sensitive species. A study by Stalter et al (2013) also revealed that even wastewater effluents discharged by Bstate-of-the-art^wastewater treatment facilities also impact the ecological quality of receiving surface water bodies. Their findings revealed two important factors contributing to pollution-mediated invertebrate mortality and reduced species diversity.…”

Section: Invertebratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban effluent discharges as causes of public and environmental health concerns in South Africa’s aquatic milieu

Sibanda

Selvarajan

Tekere

2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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The water quality in South Africa's river systems is rapidly deteriorating as a consequence of increased discharge of wastewater effluents. The natural ability of rivers and reservoirs to trap toxic chemicals and nutrients in their sediments enables these systems to accumulate contaminants, altering the natural balance in environmental water quality, thereby raising a plethora of public and environmental health concerns. Impaired water quality has been linked to an array of problems in South Africa including massive fish mortalities, altered habitat template leading to the thinning of riverine macroinvertebrate diversity, shifts in microbial community structures with drastic ecological consequences and evolvement of antibiotic resistance genes that, under natural conditions, can be transferred to waterborne pathogens. Urban wastewater discharge has also been implicated in increased bioaccumulation of metals in edible plant parts, elevated concentrations of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), which are blamed for reduced fertility and increased cancer risk, excessive growth of toxic cyanobacteria and an increase in concentrations of pathogenic microorganisms which constitute a potential health threat to humans. However, despite the ecotoxicological hazards posed by wastewater effluents, ecotoxicological studies are currently underutilised in South African aquatic ecosystem assessments, and where they have been done, the observation is that ecotoxicological studies are mostly experimental and restricted to small study areas. More research is still needed to fully assess especially the ecotoxicological consequences of surface water pollution by urban wastewater effluents in South Africa. A review of the effects of urban effluent discharges that include domestic effluent mixed with industrial effluent and/or urban stormwater runoff is hereby presented.

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Do Contaminants Originating from State-of-the-Art Treated Wastewater Impact the Ecological Quality of Surface Waters?

Cited by 53 publications

References 50 publications

Resilience to heat waves in the aquatic snail Lymnaea stagnalis: Additive and interactive effects with micropollutants

Resilience to heat waves in the aquatic snail Lymnaea stagnalis: Additive and interactive effects with micropollutants

Prediction of taxon occurrence: a test on taxon‐specific change point values of stream benthic invertebrates

Urban effluent discharges as causes of public and environmental health concerns in South Africa’s aquatic milieu

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