Sediment Dynamics of the Neretva Channel (Croatia Coast) Inferred by Chemical and Physical Proxies

Transport, Persistence, and Toxicity of Pollutants in the Sea

Eight research articles and two reviews are included in this Special Issue focused on the transport, persistence, and toxicity of pollutants in different seas: the Western and Central Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the South China Sea [...]

Otolith fingerprints reveals potential pollution exposure of newly settled juvenile Sparus aurata

Coastal ecosystems are increasingly threatened by a wide range of human activities. Fish otolith chemistry, by creating a unique specific signature, can be used as a natural tag for determining life stage dispersal, spatial connectivity and population structure. In this study, we tested whether differences in otolith composition among juveniles of gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, could enable their proper allocation to polluted areas based on higher concentrations of elements related to contaminants. Otoliths were embedded, sectioned and analysed by LA-ICP-MS in line scan mode. Multivariate analysis confirmed clear separation between sites and elements. Samples from the site under the strongest anthropogenic impact from industrial and agricultural river input were characterized by higher values of Pb/Ca and Zn/Ca. However, these relatively low values likely do not have a negative effect on S. aurata recruitment, though they could serve for identifying the contribution of polluted nurseries to stock dynamics.