Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 166, Issue -, Pages 196-207Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2012.03.017
Keywords
Trace metal bioavailabilities; Freshwater streams; Ecotoxicological effects; Benthic insect communities; Mayflies; Caddisflies
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Funding
- NHM Department of Zoology
- Natural Environment Research Council [ceh010010] Funding Source: researchfish
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It has been proposed that bioaccumulated concentrations of toxic metals in tolerant biomonitors be used as indicators of metal bioavailability that could be calibrated against the ecological response to metals of sensitive biotic assemblages. Our hypothesis was that metal concentrations in caddisfly larvae Hydro-psyche siltalai and Plectrocnemia conspersa, as tolerant biomonitors, indicate metal bioavailability in contaminated streams, and can be calibrated against metal-specific ecological responses of mayflies. Bioaccumulated concentrations of Cu, As, Zn and Pb in H. siltalai from SW English streams were related to the mayfly assemblage. Mayflies were always sparse where bioavailabilities were high and were abundant and diverse where bioavailabilities of all metals were low, a pattern particularly evident when the combined abundance of heptageniid and ephemerellid mayflies was the response variable. The results offer promise that bioaccumulated concentrations of metals in tolerant biomonitors can be used to diagnose ecological impacts on stream benthos from metal stressors. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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