Historical legacies of river pollution reconstructed from fish scales.
Environ Pollut
; 234: 253-259, 2018 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29179128
ABSTRACT
Many rivers have been impacted by heavy metal pollution in the past but the long-term legacies on biodiversity are difficult to estimate. The River Ulla (NW Spain) was impacted by tailings from a copper mine during the 1970-1980s but absence of baseline values and lack of subsequent monitoring have prevented a full impact assessment. We used archived fish scales of Atlantic salmon to reconstruct levels of historical copper pollution and its effects on salmon fitness. Copper bioaccumulation significantly increased over baseline values during the operation of the mine, reaching sublethal levels for salmon survival. Juvenile growth and relative population abundance decreased during mining, but no such effects were observed in a neighbouring river unaffected by mining. Our results indicate that historical copper exposure has probably compromised the fitness of this Atlantic salmon population to the present day, and that fish scales are suitable biomarkers of past river pollution.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Poluentes Químicos da Água
/
Cobre
/
Salmo salar
/
Rios
/
Escamas de Animais
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Environ Pollut
Assunto da revista:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Espanha