Invertebrate community response to water chemical composition in Mediterranean rivers

DE CASTRO-CATALÀ N., MUÑOZ I., ARMENDÁRIZ L., ; CAMPOS B., BARCELÓ, D., LÓPEZ-DOVAL, J.C., ; PÉREZ S., PETROVIC M., PICÓ Y., RIERA J.L.

Basilea

Conferencia; SETAC Europe 24th Annual Meeting; 2014

SETAC Europe

River water is used for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes that lead to water contamination with numerous natural and synthetic compounds. Emerging pollutants are a large and previously unknown group of compounds that are not totally removed by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and can be found ubiquitously in natural waters. Although most of these compounds are present at low concentrations, many of them raise considerable ecotoxicological concerns, particularly when present as components of complex mixture (Loos et al., 2009). However, there is little information on their effects in freshwater communities. The objective of this study was to check the relationships between invertebrate communities and the presence of different groups of emerging pollutants in the water and in the sediment of 4 Iberian basins (Llobregat, Júcar, Guadalquivir, and Ebro). Four to six sites were sampled in each river during two consecutive years (2010, 2011) in early autumn. Five sediment samples were collected randomly with a core to obtain structural (species richness, diversity, density) and functional parameters (catalase activity) in invertebrate community. More than 800 pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, illicit drugs, perfluorinated compounds and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) were measured in water and sediment matrix. Physicochemical parameters were also measured in each site. Different statistical tools (Spearman?s rank correlation, Redundancy Analysis and Generalized linear models) were applied in order to detect indicators of stress and risk on community. Different chemical composition was detected between sediment and water. Negative significant relationships were found between the abundance of invertebrate taxa and chemical concentrations. In water, pharmaceuticals and pesticides were the two families of pollutants which were repeatedly correlated with different genera. EDCs was also a group of compounds that determined invertebrate distribution in the most polluted sites.