Integrative assessment of heavy metals in the Bahía Blanca estuary: geochemical, biochemical and bioaccumulation patterns

C. LEANDRO NEGRO; MAIALÉN G. ARDUSSO; JORGE E. MARCOVECCHIO; DANIELA M. TRUCHET; M. CELESTE MORA; JORGE E. BUSTAMANTE; NATALIA S. BUZZI; DIANA M. VILLAGRAN; FABIAN E. GARCÍA

Virtual

Jornada; III Jornadas Internacionles y V Jornadas Nacionales de Ambiente; 2021

Biomonitoring of heavy metal pollution through the use of biomarkers could be a difficult task since the organisms' physiological changes could shift regarding natural factors and anthropogenic pressures of the environment. The present study intended to determinate the heavy metal concentrations in sediments and the hepatopancreas of the crab species Neohelice granulata as well as the ecological risk through the use of biomarkers and geochemical indices in sites with different anthropogenic pressures of the Bahía Blanca estuary during the warm and cold season. The results showed low to moderate Cu pollution in the sediments with possible effects on the biota in a site with sewage waters? discharges. Except for GST that was explained by Cd, the biomarkers employed were not useful to assess spatial heavy metal pollution, and they might be ruled out by seasonal physiological variations rather than anthropogenic constraints or other pollutants in the area.