The biological effects of chemical contaminants in the Arabian/Persian Gulf: A review

Abstract

The Arabian Gulf is a shallow sea naturally exposed to extreme conditions of temperature and salinity due to its location, semi-enclosed nature, bathymetry and restricted circulation. Compared to open marine systems, the added stress imposed by pollutants is likely to have additional adverse consequences. Maintaining good marine environmental quality is crucial for several socioeconomic reasons, one of the most important being that the region relies heavily on seawater as a source of freshwater through desalination. While regionally based marine monitoring programs employing chemical endpoints have been widely deployed, few have evaluated the potential biological effects of those contaminants detected. However, it is now widely recognized that an integrated approach using both chemical measurements and appropriate biological endpoints in key sentinel species is essential to the design and implementation of marine environmental programs. Here we present an exhaustive review of the studies published so far in the Gulf on the biological effects of chemical contaminants using different biological endpoints and suggest potential areas requiring additional research.

Establishing a marine monitoring programme to assess antibiotic resistance: a case study from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region

“…Due to specific demographic and environmental factors the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region may be particularly susceptible to the threat of AMR, with the marine and aquatic environment potentially playing a specific role in its development and propagation (Le Quesne et al ., 2018). The Gulf is a shallow sea naturally exposed to extreme conditions of temperature and salinity due to its location, semi-enclosed nature, bathymetry and restricted circulation (Sheppard et al ., 2010, Khatir et al ., 2020) (Figure 1). As such, pollutants such as sewage contamination, pharmaceuticals and heavy metals entering this system may exert additional selection pressures.…”

Methylmercury, Trace Metals, Organotins and Their Effects on the Qatari Mangrove Shrimp, Palaemon khori

“…These mangroves provide one of the most productive areas of vegetation in a region where the extreme environmental conditions constrain most vegetation growth. An endemic species of palaemonid shrimp, Palaemon khori [50], has been described in the A. marina mangrove forest at Al-Khor, Qatar. This species represents an important component of the trophic chain within the mangrove-associated faunal community.…”

“…Genotoxic effects (increase in the aneuploidy levels) were observed under laboratory conditions after only four weeks of exposure. A combined approach with chemical and biological assessments [50] in local invertebrates [83] used as key sentinel species could be a valuable tool to detect early warnings of pollution in the marine environment.…”

“…There is also now a scientific consensus that the assessment of marine ecosystems' health and the design of measures to enhance environmental quality should be performed using a combined approach, incorporating both chemical and biological measurements, in key sentinel species (e.g., [48,49]). Cytogenetic parameters and atypical cytogenetic features, such as aneuploidy, have shown their relevance as endpoint indicators for assessing marine environmental genotoxicity in different marine and invertebrate species, e.g., mussels M. edulis [50], the pearl oyster P. imbricata radiata [37] and the Manila clam R. philippinarum [36]. Moreover, in the Pacific oyster, Magallana gigas aneuploidy has been well documented [51,52], together with the negative relationship between aneuploidy and growth rate [53] and the persistence of aneuploidy levels, within and between generations [51,53,54].…”

Establishing a marine monitoring programme to assess antibiotic resistance: A case study from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region

“…Due to specific demographic and environmental factors the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region may be particularly susceptible to the threat of AMR, with the marine and aquatic environment potentially playing a specific role in its development and propagation ( Le Quesne et al ., 2018 ). The Gulf is a shallow sea naturally exposed to extreme conditions of temperature and salinity due to its location, semi-enclosed nature, bathymetry and restricted circulation ( Sheppard et al., 2010 , Khatir et al., 2020 ) ( Fig. 1 ).…”