Poison in paradise: increase of toxic effects in restored sections of two rivers jeopardizes the success of hydromorphological restoration measures

Brettschneider, Denise J.; Misovic, Andrea; Schulte‐Oehlmann, Ulrike; Oetken, Matthias; Oehlmann, Jörg

doi:10.1186/s12302-019-0218-9

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…5a). This is comparable with measured activities in other river sediments [51,52]. The very low to absent activity in the associated water samples suggests that there is no remobilization of respective compounds.…”

Section: Ecotoxicological Status Of the Oodplain Water Bodiessupporting

confidence: 87%

In vitro effect-based monitoring of water, sediment and soil from a floodplain restoration site

Kuschik-Maczollek,

Glock,

Schmitz

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background Floodplains are biodiversity hotspots and provide numerous ecosystem services. In recent decades, however, 70–90% of Europe's floodplains have been structurally degraded. Accordingly, many (inter-)national programs aim to restore and protect floodplain ecosystems. The success of such measures also depends on the chemical contamination, especially of floodplain soils and sediments, which serve as sinks and sources for a variety of pollutants. In this study, we assess the current ecotoxicological status of a floodplain restoration site along the Main river (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) and estimate its development potential with respect to the influence of a local industrial plant and potential legacy contaminations. We therefore use in vitro effect-based methods (EBMs) testing for baseline toxicity, mutagenicity, dioxin-like and estrogenic activities, coupled with chemical analysis. Results Of all water bodies analyzed, the overall toxicity was highest in two flood depressions. In the respective water phase, estrogenic activities exceeded the environmental quality standard and sediment samples were positive for all tested endpoints. Chemical analysis of these sediments revealed high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Soil samples from frequently flooded areas showed the highest mutagenic potential for both frameshift and point mutations with and without metabolic activation. The industrial effluent showed baseline toxic, mutagenic, and dioxin-like activities, that were highly diluted in the Main river. Respective sediments, in turn, showed significantly elevated activities and chemical contamination downstream of the industrial discharge. Conclusion Based on the results of this study, we rate the overall ecotoxicological status of a recently established tributary and groundwater-fed ponds as good, and identified two flood depressions near the Main river as hot spots of contamination. We assume that the observed mutagenicity in the floodplain soils is related to legacy contaminations from former aniline and azo dye production. In terms of the development potential of the floodplain restoration site, we emphasize considering the remobilization of pollutants from these soils and suppose that, in the long term, pollution of the Main river and the local industrial plant may negatively impact sediment quality in its tributaries. With this study, we confirmed the utility of in vitro EBMs for identifying chemically and ecotoxicologically relevant sites.

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Section: Ecotoxicological Status Of the Oodplain Water Bodiessupporting

confidence: 87%

In vitro effect-based monitoring of water, sediment and soil from a floodplain restoration site

Kuschik-Maczollek,

Glock,

Schmitz

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…nutrients and chemicals from agricultural runoff) pollutants that can adversely affect freshwater organisms (Schweizer et al 2018; Brettschneider et al 2019 a ). Restoration may even have worsened this contamination by disturbing polluted sediments and facilitating sediment–water exchange by reducing flow velocity (Brettschneider et al 2019 b ). Addressing these types of stressors is likely best accomplished through efforts to reduce chemical pollution throughout the watershed, such as by improving the effectiveness of wastewater treatment (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primarily neutral effects of river restoration on macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and fishes after a decade of monitoring

Sinclair

Mademann

Haubrock

et al. 2022

Restoration Ecology

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Restoring river habitat heterogeneity is expensive and time consuming, yet often has little effect on aquatic biota. Such poor restoration outcomes could be partly caused by the predominance of short‐term studies, which do not account for natural temporal fluctuations nor changes in the effects of restoration through time. Consequently, research that examines the longer‐term dynamics of river restoration is crucial for providing a temporal perspective of restoration outcomes and for informing the effectiveness of restoration methods. We used the Nidda River in Germany as a case study of the temporal effects of river hydromorphological restoration on different aquatic taxa. We surveyed macroinvertebrate, macrophyte, and fish communities across three sites prerestoration (2008) and then monitored changes in one control versus two restored sites across 10 years (2010–2019). Overall, we found few effects of restoration on the macroinvertebrate and macrophyte communities, with no effects whatsoever on fishes. Restoration improved some components of the macroinvertebrate and macrophyte communities; however, these positive effects were temporally inconsistent and did not translate to improvements in river ecosystem health (based on an index of ecological quality). Our findings illustrate how allowing for more time for community development will not necessarily alter the fact that local‐scale river habitat restoration can elicit little to no change in aquatic communities. Combining local‐ with broad‐scale restoration efforts that address the primary drivers of hydroecological decline, in addition to long‐term monitoring, may therefore be required to ensure that river restorations successfully meet their ecological goals.

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“…One new site (113), was sampled along the Nidder upstream of Sichenhausen, close to the northern boundary of the Kinzig catchment, because this site frequently served as a reference sampling site for G. fossarum in previous studies with little anthropogenic disturbance (e.g. [28,29,50,51]).…”

Section: Study Region and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-scale population structuring results in differential susceptibility to pesticide exposure

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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Central European riverine networks are subject to widely varying local anthropogenic pressures, forcing species with limited dispersal abilities to adapt or become locally extinct. Previous catchment-wide studies have shown that some invertebrates tend to have pronounced population structuring throughout mountainous river networks, raising the question of whether this also translates into small-scale phenotypic differentiation and adaptation to local stressors. One such species is the headwater crustacean species Gammarus fossarum clade 11 (or lineage B), which we restudied in terms of population structure four years after first assessment. Our aim was not only to document the temporal stability/dynamics of the population structure, but we asked whether a small-scale genetic structuring also results in phenotypic differentiation and different susceptibility to a commonly applied pesticide. Therefore, we re-assessed population structure based on COI haplotypes and their frequencies, and quantified key parameters related to morphological and life-history differentiation. Furthermore, we examined the difference in sensitivity towards the pyrethroid insecticide deltamethrin. COI haplotype patterns were found to be stable over time and confirmed the small-scale population structuring within the catchment, with isolated headwater populations and connected downstream populations. While little life-history differentiation was observed, marked differences in susceptibility to the pyrethroid insecticide were found. Populations from pristine sites responded significantly more tolerant than populations from anthropogenically impacted sites—showing that prior exposure to a spectrum of stressors does not automatically increase tolerance to a specific stressor. Therefore, our study demonstrates that limited dispersal capacity is reflected not only in population structure, but also in small-scale variation in susceptibility to anthropogenic disturbance. The system thus provides a suitable experimental landscape to test the impact of further stressors (e.g., other novel entities, including pesticides with other modes of action) on locally isolated populations. Based on these findings, important recommendations for the protection of riverine species and their intraspecific genetic variation can be developed.

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Poison in paradise: increase of toxic effects in restored sections of two rivers jeopardizes the success of hydromorphological restoration measures

Cited by 13 publications

References 130 publications

In vitro effect-based monitoring of water, sediment and soil from a floodplain restoration site

In vitro effect-based monitoring of water, sediment and soil from a floodplain restoration site

Primarily neutral effects of river restoration on macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and fishes after a decade of monitoring

Small-scale population structuring results in differential susceptibility to pesticide exposure

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