Integrated assessment of the natural purification capacity of tidal flat for persistent toxic substances and heavy metals in contaminated sediments.

Natural purification of pollutants is highly recognized as regulating ecosystem services; however, the purification capacity of tidal flats remains largely unknown and/or unquantified. A 60-day mesocosm transplant experiment was conducted in situ to assess the purification capacity of natural tidal flats. We adopted the advanced sediment quality triad approach, monitoring 10 endpoints, including chemical reduction, toxicity changes, and community recoveries. The results indicated that contaminated sediments rapidly recovered over time, particularly > 50% within a day, then slowly recovered up to âˆ¼ 70% in a given period (60 days). A significant early reduction of parent pollutants was evidenced across all treatments, primarily due to active bacterial decomposition. Notably, the presence of benthic fauna and vegetated halophytes in the treatments significantly enhanced the purification of pollutants in both efficacy and efficiency. A forecast linear modeling further suggested additive effects of biota on the natural purification of tidal flats, reducing a full recovery time from 500 to 300 days. Overall, the triad approach with machine learning practices successfully demonstrated quantitative insight into the integrated assessment of natural purification.

Evaluation of ecotoxicological effects associated with coastal sediments of the Yellow Sea large marine ecosystem using the marine copepod Tigriopus japonicus.

A copepod bioassay with Tigriopus japonicus was applied to evaluate the relative ecotoxicity of sediments in the Yellow and Bohai seas, and contributions of individual PAHs to copepod toxicity were evaluated. Mean toxicity was greatest in the Yellow Sea of China, followed by the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea of Korea. Elevated concentrations of sedimentary PAHs, alkylphenols, and styrene oligomers back-supported the significant toxicities observed in bioassay. Copepod toxicity in relation to PAHs indicated the greatest contribution by indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene. However, lacked contribution by PAHs, viz., 2.4 and 3.0 % for the total immobilization and mortality, respectively, indicated a large proportion of unknown toxicants being widely distributed along the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) coastline. Overall, the present study provides useful baseline information for evaluating the potential sedimentary toxicants, with emphasizing further investigation to identify the unknown toxicants at an LME scale, and elsewhere.

Identification of AhR agonists in sediments of the Bohai and Yellow Seas using advanced effect-directed analysis and in silico prediction.

Novel aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonists were identified in coastal sediments in the Yellow and Bohai Seas by use of a combination of effect-directed analysis (EDA) and in silico prediction. A total of 125 sediments were screened for AhR-mediated potencies using H4IIE-luc bioassay. Great potencies were observed in organic extracts, mid-polar fraction (F2), and subfractions of F2 (F2.6-F2.9) of sediments collected from Nantong, Qinhuangdao, and Yancheng. Less than 15% AhR potencies could be explained by detected dioxin-like PAHs. Full-scan screening analysis was conducted for the more potent fractions using GC-QTOFMS to investigate the presence of unmonitored AhR agonists. A five-step prioritization strategy was applied; 92 candidate compounds satisfied all criteria. Among these chemicals, thirteen were evaluated for AhR efficacy. Six compounds; benz[b]anthracene, 6-methylchrysene, 2-methylbenz[a]anthracene, 1-methylbenz[a]anthracene, 1,12-dimethylbenzo[c]phenanthrene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd]fluoranthene, exhibited significant AhR-mediated efficacies. 1,12-dimethylbenzo[c]phenanthrene and indeno[1,2,3-cd]fluoranthene were identified as novel AhR agonists. Potency balance analysis showed that the six newly identified AhR agonists explained 0.4-100% of the total AhR-mediated potencies determined. Overall, combining EDA and in silico prediction applied in this study demonstrated the benefits of assessing the potential toxic effects of previously unidentified AhR agonists in sediments from the coasts of China and Korea.

The first national scale evaluation of total nitrogen stocks and burial rates of intertidal sediments along the entire coast of South Korea.

The regulating ecosystem services, such as water purification, that tidal flats provide by nitrogen (N) burial are being increasingly recognized; yet, quantitative estimates remain limited. Here, we first present nationwide evaluation of total N stocks and burial rates in the Korean tidal flats, based on a 3 year long monitoring assessment combined with remote sensing approach. A total of 20 intertidal flats representing 7 provinces of South Korea were extensively surveyed in 2018-20. The sediment textural type (sand, mixed, and mud) classified from remotely sensed imagery was significantly correlated to that identified from field data (p < 0.01), warranting a nationwide estimate of total N stocks. The estimated total N stocks and burial rates in the tidal flats of Korea were 1.5 Tg N and 8,192 Mg N yr-1, respectively. Total N stocks significantly varied by region, province, morphology, salinity, and land use type adjacent to the corresponding tidal flats. In general, the N stocks of tidal flats were influenced by the degree of terrestrial N inputs to the ocean. The N stocks were significantly correlated with several physical parameters, such as precipitation (p < 0.05) and tide (p < 0.01). Among the sediment properties, the mud content was found to be the key factor determining the total N stocks across the 20 intertidal flats (p < 0.01). Finally, by applying the environmental value for N removal (USD km-2 yr-1) to the tidal flat area (km2), the economic value of the total N removal was estimated as ~233 Million USD yr-1 in Korea and ~15 Billion USD yr-1 globally. Overall, the present work confirms the valuable ecosystem service of tidal flat's cost-efficient N removal capacity, highlighting marine ecosystem service.

Large-scale sediment toxicity assessment over the 15,000 km of coastline in the Yellow and Bohai seas, East Asia.

The Yellow and Bohai seas have long been contaminated by persistent toxic substances (PTSs) from numerous (un)known anthropogenic sources. In this study, we used Vibrio fischeri bioassay to evaluate ecotoxicological profiles associated with sedimentary PTSs contamination at a large marine ecosystem (LME) scale. A total of 125 surface sediments collected from the coastal areas of the Yellow and Bohai seas were analyzed both for aqueous and organic extracts. Not surprisingly, the results indicated site-dependent toxicities, but most sites were identified as non-toxic to V. fischeri. For aqueous extracts and organic extracts, 13% and 8% of samples, respectively exhibited marginal toxicity, while 0% and 2% of samples exhibited moderate toxicity. However, it should be noted that organic extracts (mean TU = 56) induced stronger toxicities than aqueous samples (mean TU = 0.4). This result generally back-supported the high toxicity potentials associated with sedimentary sink of organic pollutants. Several PTSs measured in the samples indicated a significant contribution to the observed V. fischeri toxicities. Of note, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; r = 0.28, p < 0.05), styrene oligomers (r = 0.41, p < 0.01), and alkylphenols (r = 0.38, p < 0.05) showed significant associations to the observed bacterial inhibition. Among PAHs, benzo[a]anthracene and phenanthrene exhibited a significant contribution to the observed V. fischeri toxicities. Meantime, salinity which reflects the distance from the point sources of land-driven pollutants along the rivers and estuaries in the Yellow and Bohai seas was a key environmental variable representing the sample toxicities. Overall, the present study provides baseline information for evaluating the potential sediment toxicity to implement responsible coastal management at an LME scale, and elsewhere.

Identification of genotoxic compounds in crude oil using fractionation according to distillation, polarity and Kow.

We examined the degree of DNA damage caused by fractions of crude oil in accordance with the boiling points, polarity and log Kow. Relatively high DNA damage was observed in the aromatic fraction (290-330°C) and resin and polar fraction (350-400°C). The resin and polar fraction showed relatively high genotoxicity compared with the aliphatic and aromatic fraction at the 1-4 log Kow range. At the 6-7 log Kow range, the aromatic fraction showed relatively high DNA damage compared with the aliphatic and resin and polar fraction. In particular, every detailed fraction in accordance with the log Kow values (aliphatic and aromatic (310-320°C) and resins and polar fractions (370-380°C)) showed one or less than one DNA damage. However, the fractions before separation in accordance with log Kow values (aliphatic and aromatic (310-320°C) and resin and polar (370-380°C) fractions) showed high DNA damage. Thus, we confirm the synergistic action between the detailed compounds.

Restoration and source identification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons after the Wu Yi San oil spill, Korea.

On January 31, 2014, an oil spill accident occurred in Yeosu, South Korea. A total 800-899kl of oil from the pipeline was spilled into the sea. After the oil spill, the KIOST (Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology) researched PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in various media, but sedimentary PAHs were not analyzed despite their longer persistency than in other media. Therefore, this study examined PAH levels in intertidal sediments around Gwangyang Bay and identified PAH sources using oil fingerprinting. PAH residual levels showed a dramatic decrease during the four months after the accident and then remained at a relatively constant level. Analysis through regression equations indicate that this study area is likely to be restored to the PAH levels prior to the accident. Furthermore, the source analysis and oil fingerprinting analysis showed that PAH contamination in this study was unlikely to have originated from the spilled oil.