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Di Nicola MR, Novello C, Lo Valvo M, Lo Dico GM, Bianchi VG, Mercuri SR, Giornetti M. Biological Matrices from Cairina moschata as Non-Destructive Biomonitoring Tools to Study Environmental Quality of Urban and Extra-Urban Areas: A Case Study of Palermo (Sicily, Italy). Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:2474. [PMID: 37570283 PMCID: PMC10417785 DOI: 10.3390/ani13152474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Biomonitoring is the qualitative observation and the measurement of biosphere parameters aimed at modelling the environment, evaluating its quality, and studying the effects of alterations on different ecological levels. In this work, trace metal concentrations were assessed using non-destructive biomonitoring tools as blood and feathers of the allochthonous aquatic bird Cairina moschata, collected within two areas of the Palermo metropolitan area, Sicily, differently exposed to air pollution: Parco D'Orleans, in a central urban location, and Monreale, southwest of the city centre. Higher concentrations in both blood and feathers collected in Parco D' Orleans were found for lead, tin and selenium, but the same was not observed for other metals. The concentrations were not above physiological tolerance in any case. The comparison between blood and feathers allowed to realize that the latter are more useful for biomonitoring analyses, as they are indicative of both external contamination and bioaccumulation. Treatment with nitric acid highlighted that the feathers collected in Parco D' Orleans had higher metal bioaccumulation than the ones collected in Monreale; however, the treatment needs standardization. The present study confirms that feathers and blood from C. moschata are a convenient and non-destructive sampling tool for metal contamination analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Riccardo Di Nicola
- Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy; (M.R.D.N.); (V.G.B.); (S.R.M.)
- Asociación Herpetológica Española, Apartado de Correos 191, 28911 Leganés, Spain
| | - Christian Novello
- Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20133 Milan, Italy;
| | - Mario Lo Valvo
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy
| | - Gianluigi Maria Lo Dico
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia “A. Mirri”, Via Gino Marinuzzi 3, 90129 Palermo, Italy;
| | - Vittoria Giulia Bianchi
- Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy; (M.R.D.N.); (V.G.B.); (S.R.M.)
| | - Santo Raffaele Mercuri
- Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy; (M.R.D.N.); (V.G.B.); (S.R.M.)
| | - Marcella Giornetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy
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Garg S, Kumar P, Greene GW, Mishra V, Avisar D, Sharma RS, Dumée LF. Nano-enabled sensing of per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous systems - A review. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 308:114655. [PMID: 35131704 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 01/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an emerging class of environmental contaminants used as an additive across various commodity and fire-retardant products, for their unique thermo-chemical stability, and to alter their surface properties towards selective liquid repellence. These properties also make PFAS highly persistent and mobile across various environmental compartments, leading to bioaccumulation, and causing acute ecotoxicity at all trophic levels particularly to human populations, thus increasing the need for monitoring at their repositories or usage sites. In this review, current nano-enabled methods towards PFAS sensing and its monitoring in wastewater are critically discussed and benchmarked against conventional detection methods. The discussion correlates the materials' properties to the sensitivity, responsiveness, and reproducibility of the sensing performance for nano-enabled sensors in currently explored electrochemical, spectrophotometric, colorimetric, optical, fluorometric, and biochemical with limits of detection of 1.02 × 10-6 μg/L, 2.8 μg/L, 1 μg/L, 0.13 μg/L, 6.0 × 10-5 μg/L, and 4.141 × 10-7 μg/L respectively. The cost-effectiveness of sensing platforms plays an important role in the on-site analysis success and upscalability of nano-enabled sensors. Environmental monitoring of PFAS is a step closer to PFAS remediation. Electrochemical and biosensing methods have proven to be the most reliable tools for future PFAS sensing endeavors with very promising detection limits in an aqueous matrix, short detection times, and ease of fabrication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shafali Garg
- University of Delhi, Bioresources and Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, India
| | - Pankaj Kumar
- University of Delhi, Bioresources and Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, India
| | - George W Greene
- Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Vandana Mishra
- University of Delhi, Bioresources and Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, India; University of Delhi, Delhi School of Climate Change and Sustainability, Institute of Eminence, Delhi, 110007, India
| | - Dror Avisar
- Tel Aviv University, School for Environmental and Earth Sciences, Water Research Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Radhey Shyam Sharma
- University of Delhi, Bioresources and Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, India; University of Delhi, Delhi School of Climate Change and Sustainability, Institute of Eminence, Delhi, 110007, India.
| | - Ludovic F Dumée
- Khalifa University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Khalifa University, Center for Membrane and Advanced Water Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Khalifa University, Research and Innovation Center on CO(2) and Hydrogen, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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Martín‐Forés I, Guerin GR, Munroe SEM, Sparrow B. Applying conservation reserve design strategies to define ecosystem monitoring priorities. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:17060-17070. [PMID: 34938492 PMCID: PMC8668797 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In an era of unprecedented ecological upheaval, monitoring ecosystem change at large spatial scales and over long-time frames is an essential endeavor of effective environmental management and conservation. However, economic limitations often preclude revisiting entire monitoring networks at high frequency. We aimed here to develop a prioritization strategy for monitoring networks to select a subset of existing sites that meets the principles of complementarity and representativeness of the whole ecological reality, and maximizes ecological complementarity (species accumulation) and the spatial and environmental representativeness. We applied two well-known approaches for conservation design, the "minimum set" and the "maximal coverage" problems, using a suite of alpha and beta biodiversity metrics. We created a novel function for the R environment that performs biodiversity metric comparisons and site prioritization on a plot-by-plot basis. We tested our procedures using plot data provided by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) AusPlots, an Australian long-term monitoring network of 774 vegetation and soil monitoring plots. We selected 250 plots and 80% of the total species recorded as targets for the maximal coverage and minimum set problems, respectively. We compared the subsets selected by the different biodiversity metrics in terms of complementarity and spatial and environmental representativeness. We found that prioritization based on species turnover (i.e., iterative selection of the most dissimilar plot to a cumulative sample in terms of species replacement) maximized ecological complementarity and spatial representativeness, while also providing high environmental coverage. Species richness was an unreliable metric for spatial representation. Selection based on range-rarity-richness was balanced in terms of complementarity and representativeness, whereas its richness-corrected implementation failed to capture ecological and environmental variation. Prioritization based on species turnover is desirable to cover the maximum variability of the whole network. Synthesis and applications: Our results inform monitoring design and conservation priorities, which can benefit by considering the turnover component of beta diversity in addition to univariate metrics. Our tool is computationally efficient, free, and can be readily applied to any species versus sites dataset, facilitating rapid decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Martín‐Forés
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
| | - Greg R. Guerin
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
| | - Samantha E. M. Munroe
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
| | - Ben Sparrow
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)University of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
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Gerber R, Smit NJ, van Vuren JHJ, Wepener V. Metal concentrations in Hydrocynus vittatus (Castelnau 1861) populations from a premier conservation area: Relationships with environmental concentrations. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2016; 129:91-102. [PMID: 27003617 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2016.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2015] [Revised: 02/17/2016] [Accepted: 03/07/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Metals are known to have deleterious effects on aquatic ecosystems, so monitoring the bioaccumulation of these pollutants is important for the assessment of potential impacts. The aim of the study was therefore to determine the degree to which aquatic biota in selected rivers of the world renowned Kruger National Park (KNP) are exposed to metals entering from the catchments outside the KNP and to determine how these metal levels reflect what is occurring within the environment. Many of these rivers have never previously been assessed and those which have, have not been assessed within the past two decades. Tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus) is an economically important apex predator and was selected as the bioindicator for this study. Fish were sampled from the KNP sections of the Luvuvhu, Letaba and Olifants Rivers during the high and low flow periods from 2009 to 2011. The analysis of various metals from the aforementioned systems revealed spatial and temporal related variation in metal level patterns of the chosen bioindicator, with concentrations in fish from the Olifants River>Letaba River>Luvuvhu River and 2009>2010>2011. Although there were differences between rivers, metal concentrations were comparable and indicate that all of the studied KNP rivers, even those considered to be in a natural state are affected to some degree by anthropogenic activities. However, concentrations found during this study were much lower than previous studies in the area, as well as contaminated sites across the world, but were higher than concentrations in fish from contaminated sites in the Vaal River, South Africa. Bioaccumulated metals showed no correlation to metals in the water column, but some were correlated to sediment metal concentrations and the contamination and bioavailability of these metals within the sediments. This is of concern when managing the water resources of the conservation area since the contaminants enter the park from outside the borders and pose potential risks to the mandated conservation of aquatic biota within the KNP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruan Gerber
- Department of Zoology, Kingsway Campus, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa.
| | - Nico J Smit
- Water Research Group, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| | - Johan H J van Vuren
- Department of Zoology, Kingsway Campus, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
| | - Victor Wepener
- Water Research Group, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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Carpenter W, Goodenough A. How robust are community-based plant bioindicators? Empirical testing of the relationship between Ellenberg values and direct environmental measures in woodland communities. COMMUNITY ECOL 2014. [DOI: 10.1556/comec.15.2014.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Peterson MJ, Efroymson RA, Adams SM. Long-term biological monitoring of an impaired stream: synthesis and environmental management implications. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2011; 47:1125-1140. [PMID: 21476067 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-011-9665-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2010] [Accepted: 03/04/2011] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The long-term ecological recovery of an impaired stream in response to an industrial facility's pollution abatement actions and the implications of the biological monitoring effort to environmental management is the subject of this special issue of Environmental Management. This final article focuses on the synthesis of the biological monitoring program's components and methods, the efficacy of various biological monitoring techniques to environmental management, and the lessons learned from the program that might be applicable to the design and application of other programs. The focus of the 25-year program has been on East Fork Poplar Creek, an ecologically impaired stream in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with varied and complex stressors from a Department of Energy facility in its headwaters. Major components of the long-term program included testing and monitoring of invertebrate and fish toxicity, bioindicators of fish health, fish contaminant accumulation, and instream communities (including periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrate, and fish). Key parallel components of the program include water chemistry sampling and data management. Multiple lines of evidence suggested positive ecological responses during three major pollution abatement periods. Based on this case study and the related literature, effective environmental management of impaired streams starts with program design that is consistent across space and time, but also adaptable to changing conditions. The biological monitoring approaches used for the program provided a strong basis for assessments of recovery from remedial actions, and the likely causes of impairment. This case study provides a unique application of multidisciplinary and quantitative techniques to address multiple and complex regulatory and programmatic goals, environmental stressors, and remedial actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark J Peterson
- Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN 37831, USA.
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Macdonald LH, Smart A. Beyond the Guidelines: Practical lessons for monitoring. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 1993; 26:203-218. [PMID: 24220836 DOI: 10.1007/bf00547499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/1992] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
A series of workshops have provided extensive feedback on a recently published manual, Monitoring Guidelines to Evaluate Effects of Forestry Activities on Streams in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska (Guidelines) (MacDonald et al., 1991). These workshops and other discussions have led to the identification of fourteen additional 'lessons' for monitoring. These lessons are concepts which either were not incorporated into the Guidelines, were not sufficiently emphasized, or which are needed to put the Guidelines in context. The topics include: monitoring as a continuum; defining objectives and hypotheses; peer review; uncertainty and risk; upslope vs. instream monitoring; photo sequences; scale considerations; data storage, data interpretation, and data base management; 'activities monitoring'; and personal commitment as a critical component in monitoring projects. Many of these lessons might appear self-evident, but our experience indicates that they are often ignored. Like the Guidelines, these lessons are widely applicable and should be explicitly recognized when formulating and conducting monitoring projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- L H Macdonald
- Department of Earth Resources, Colorado State University, 80523, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
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