SCOPE FOR GROWTH AND CONTAMINANT LEVELS IN NORTH-SEA MUSSELS MYTILUS-EDULIS

Citation
J. Widdows et al., SCOPE FOR GROWTH AND CONTAMINANT LEVELS IN NORTH-SEA MUSSELS MYTILUS-EDULIS, Marine ecology. Progress series, 127(1-3), 1995, pp. 131-148
Citations number
45
Categorie Soggetti
Marine & Freshwater Biology",Ecology
ISSN journal
01718630
Volume
127
Issue
1-3
Year of publication
1995
Pages
131 - 148
Database
ISI
SICI code
0171-8630(1995)127:1-3<131:SFGACL>2.0.ZU;2-A
Abstract
Mussels Mytilus edulis, collected from 26 coastal sites from the Shetl and Islands to the Thames estuary and 8 offshore Light vessels, were u sed to monitor changes in environmental quality along the North Sea co astline of the UK (July 1990 and August 1991). The combined measuremen ts of the stress response, scope for growth (SFG), and chemical contam inants in the tissues of mussels were able to detect, quantify and ide ntify some of the major toxicants causing the observed pollution effec ts. SFG declined from north to south, reflecting both the major inflow of clean water from the North Atlantic via the north of Scotland, and the overall increase in environmental contamination with increasing u rbanisation and industrialisation towards the south. There were coasta l regions (e.g. Humber-Wash area and the Thames estuary) as well as sp ecific sites (e.g. Ythan, Montrose, Blyth, Teesmouth, Whitby) which sh owed markedly reduced SFG. Using experimentally derived tissue concent ration-response relationships it was shown that at over half the sites the reduced SFG could be entirely explained by the recorded concentra tions of contaminants in the tissues. At the majority of sites, a larg e contribution towards the observed decline in SFG was caused by toxic (mainly polyaromatic) hydrocarbons, largely reflecting urbanisation a nd shipping activity. in addition, reductions in SFG appear to be part ially explained by the accumulation of significant amounts of 'polar o rganic compounds' and tributyltin. At no sites were metals accumulated to concentrations that could cause a significant reduction in SFG. At those sites with a large 'unexplained component' to the very low SFG values, there was a significant correlation between this 'residual une xplained toxicity' and concentrations of organochlorines in the mussel s. More research on the toxicity of these organochlorine compounds to mussels is needed.