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Mayor P, Soliño L, Cartró-Sabaté M, Orta-Martínez M. Impact of hydrocarbon extraction on heavy metal concentrations in lowland paca (Cuniculus paca) from the Peruvian Amazon. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 930:172371. [PMID: 38631638 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Oil has been extracted from the Western Amazon since the 1920s, leading to severe environmental contamination due to frequent occurrence oil spills and the dumping of produced water. Local inhabitants, along with environmental and human rights organizations, have reported the adverse effects of oil-related pollution on their livelihoods and the ecosystems they depend on. Here, we study accumulation of oil-related heavy metals in wildlife, and its subsequent incorporation into the trophic chain. We analysed the concentration of 14 heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Hg, As, Ni, V, Ba, Se, Be, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Al) in liver samples from 78 lowland pacas (Cuniculus paca) hunted for subsistence in an oil-polluted area from the northern Peruvian Amazon where oil has been extracted since the 1970s (n = 38), and two control areas, the Yavari-Mirín River basin (n = 20), and the Pucacuro River basin (n = 20). Pacas in the oil-polluted area have significantly higher concentrations of Cd (P < 0.01) and Ba (P < 0.0001) compared to those in control areas, suggesting bioaccumulation of oil-related pollution. Conversely, Se levels were significantly lower in the oil-polluted area (P < 0.0001), likely due to the sequestration of Se by other heavy metals, particularly Cd. Additionally, minor variations in other heavy metals, e.g., Fe and Zn, were observed in pacas from the oil-polluted area, whereas control areas showed higher concentrations of Ni and Cu. Mn and Al levels did not significantly differ between the study areas. These results underscore the impact of oil extraction on the absorption and assimilation of heavy metals in wildlife, point at oil activities as the source of the high and unsafe blood Cd levels reported for the indigenous population of the studied oil extraction area and raise concerns about the long-term health risks from oil extraction posed to local Indigenous People who rely on subsistence hunting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Mayor
- Dept. Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Museo de Culturas Indígenas Amazónicas, Fundamazonia, Iquitos, Peru.
| | - Lucía Soliño
- Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Mar Cartró-Sabaté
- Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Martí Orta-Martínez
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Institute de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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Vander Meulen IJ, Schock DM, Akhter F, Mundy LJ, Eccles KM, Soos C, Peru KM, McMartin DW, Headley JV, Pauli BD. Site-specific spatiotemporal occurrence and molecular congener distributions of naphthenic acids in Athabasca oil sands wetlands of Alberta, Canada. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2023; 333:122061. [PMID: 37330190 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR) of Alberta, Canada is notable for its considerable unconventional petroleum extraction projects, where bitumen is extracted from naturally-occurring oil sands ore. The large scale of these heavy crude oil developments raises concerns because of their potential to distribute and/or otherwise influence the occurrence, behaviour, and fate of environmental contaminants. Naphthenic acids (NAs) are one such contaminant class of concern in the AOSR, so studies have examined the occurrence and molecular profiles of NAs in the region. We catalogued the spatiotemporal occurrence and characteristics of NAs in boreal wetlands in the AOSR over a 7-year period, using derivatized liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Comparing median concentrations of NAs across these wetlands revealed a pattern of NAs suggesting NAs in surface waters derived from oil sands deposits. Opportunistic wetlands that formed adjacent to reclaimed overburden and other reclamation activities had the highest concentrations of NAs and consistent patterns suggestive of bitumen-derived inputs. However, similar patterns in the occurrence of NAs were also observed in undeveloped natural wetlands located above the known surface-mineable oil sands deposit that underlies the region. Intra-annual sampling results along with inter-annual comparisons across wetlands demonstrated that differences in the spatial and temporal NA concentrations were dependent on local factors, particularly when naturally occurring oil sands ores were observed in the wetland or drainage catchment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian J Vander Meulen
- Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Danna M Schock
- Keyano College, 8115 Franklin Ave, Fort McMurray, AB, T9H 2N7, Canada
| | - Fardausi Akhter
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 115 Perimeter Road, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Lukas J Mundy
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Kristin M Eccles
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Catherine Soos
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 115 Perimeter Road, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Kerry M Peru
- Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Dena W McMartin
- Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Office of the Vice President (Research), University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive West, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - John V Headley
- Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| | - Bruce D Pauli
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
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Chételat J, Cousens B, Hebert CE, Jung TS, Mundy L, Thomas PJ, Zhang S. Isotopic evidence for bioaccumulation of aerosol lead in fish and wildlife of western Canada. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2022; 302:119074. [PMID: 35231539 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Lead (Pb) is a toxic element which is released as a result of anthropogenic activities, and Pb stable isotope ratios provide a means to distinguish sources and transport pathways in receiving environments. In this study, isotopes of bioaccumulated Pb (204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, 208Pb) were examined for diverse terrestrial and aquatic biota from three areas in western Canada: (a) otter, marten, gulls, terns, and wood frogs in the Alberta Oil Sands Region (AOSR), (b) fish, plankton, and gulls of Great Slave Lake (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories), and (c) wolverine from the Yukon. Aquatic and terrestrial biota from different habitats and a broad geographic area showed a remarkable similarity in their Pb isotope composition (grand mean ± 1 standard deviation: 206Pb/207Pb = 1.189 ± 0.007, 208Pb/207Pb = 2.435 ± 0.009, n = 116). Comparisons with Pb isotope ratios of local sources and environmental receptors showed that values in biota were most similar to those of atmospheric Pb, either measured in local aerosols influenced by industrial activities in the AOSR or in lichens (an aerosol proxy) near Yellowknife and in the Yukon. Biotic Pb isotope ratios were different from those of local geogenic Pb. Although the Pb isotope measurements could not unambiguously identify the specific anthropogenic sources of atmospheric Pb in biota, initial evidence points to the importance of fossil fuels currently used in transportation and power generation. Further research should characterize bioavailable chemical species of Pb in aerosols and important emission sources in western Canada.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Chételat
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H3, Canada.
| | - Brian Cousens
- Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology Research Centre, Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Craig E Hebert
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H3, Canada
| | - Thomas S Jung
- Yukon Department of Environment, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2C6, Canada
| | - Lukas Mundy
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H3, Canada
| | - Philippe J Thomas
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H3, Canada
| | - Shuangquan Zhang
- Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology Research Centre, Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
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