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Heavy Metals And Biomarker Toxicity Assays In Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
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2007
[PDF-26.33 MB]
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Description:Although Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) was established in 1981, there is a lack of published studies documenting levels of anthropogenic pollutants in the Jobos Bay area. This study determined the extent of contamination in water, sediments, and biota. From a total of seven metals, fish muscle tissues of Scomberomorus cavalla "sierra" and Lutjanus synagris "arrayado"obtained As and Hg concentrations (ug/g ww) that surpassed or neared the human health- protection reference tissue values of 2 and 0.5, respectively, ranging from 0.76 to 11.7 for As and from 0.08 to 0.40 for Hg. These two toxic metals were low in Micropogon undulatus "roncon" and Lutjanus analis "sama". Average metal concentrations in water samples from Jobos Bay and La Parguera (a reference site) areas were below the environmental quality standards for ocean and estuary water. In sediments, significantly higher average values (ug/g dw) of As (17 vs. 9), Pb (11 vs. 4), Cu (29 vs. 14), Zn (64 vs. 28), and Fe (2.6 vs. < 1 in %) were observed in samples from the Jobos Bay area when compared to La Parguera, but these levels were low as to not represent a concentration above which effects frequently occur in aquatic organisms. When using Fe as normalizer for metals in sediments, only anthropogenic inputs of As were observed in all stations of the Jobos Bay area, even at a moderately severe level. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls were detected in sediments of JBNERR, ranging from 103 ng/g to 1,986 ng/g and from no detect to 3.7 ng/g, respectively. The highest total PAHs (1,986 ng/g) and Zn (129 ug/g dw) sediment concentrations corresponded to samples collected next to a former tire recycling center where more than 20,000 used tires burned. DNA damage measured in Brachiodontes exustus mantle cells at four field sites in JBNERR, using the alkaline version of the single cell gel electrophoresis or comet assay was consistently higher in the site near the thermoelectric power plant in which the third highest total PAH concentration (704 ng/g) was detected. The Ames Salmonella/microsome mutagenicity assay showed mixed results from five JBNERR sediment samples, suggesting the absence or insufficient amount of mutagenic chemical compounds in sediments as to elicit a mutagenic response. In conclusion, although concentrations of metals in water and sediments, and organic chemicals in sediments of JBNERR were low, anthropogenic activities contribute to these contaminants in this system. Deleterious effects as observed with B. exustus and increasing fish tissue-metal concentrations may be the result of contamination. Further studies should be conducted to identify sources of chemical contamination, to provide a human health-risk evaluation from fish consumption, and extend the analysis of organic chemicals to edible fish species.
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Sea Grant Document Number:PRU-T-07-001
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Rights Information:Public Domain
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