ALIPHATIC AND POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN MUSSELS MYTILUS
ALIPHATIC AND POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN MUSSELS (MYTILUS GALLOPROVINCIALIS) FROM THE GULF OF TRIESTE (NORTHERN ADRIATC)-THE IMPACT OF MARITIME TRAFFIC Oliver Bajt National Institute of Biology, Marine Biology Station Fonače 41, SI-6330 Piran, Slovenia and University of Ljubljana Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transportation Pot pomorščakov 4, SI- 6320 Portorož, Slovenia oliver. bajt@nib. si
WHY MUSSELS? They are good indicator organisms Ø Species very sensitive to changes in the environment (e. g. presence of a contaminating substance) Ø Indicator organisms are a basic monitoring tool used to measure both changes in environmental quality or conditions, and the potential presence of pollutants Ø In many respects mussels are the ideal marine indicator organisms
Ø Mussels, like all filter feeding bivalve molluscs, process large volumes of water (on average, 7. 5 litres of sea water/hour). This is necessary because the amount of organic matter in sea water is low (average 1 mg/l). As a consequence of this they accumulate and concentrate many pollutants in sea water. Ø This ability to accumulate different compounds facilitates the detection and measurement of pollutants that may be in the water column at very low concentrations. Ø Mussels show a wide geographical distribution, thus permitting the survey of extensive coastal areas Ø They are sessile organisms, they do not migrate Ø Sampling is quite simple
Mytilus Galloprovincialis
Constituents of crude oil
A semienclosed area, limited exchange of seawater with the northern Adriatic (summer), maximal depth 25 m, important freshwater inputs (rivers Soča, Tilment, Rižana, Dragonja), water discharges from several sewage treatment plants, intensive maritime traffic (ports of Trieste, Koper and Monfalcone) and nautical traffic (several marinas). Positions of sampling sites; site KP at the entrance to the port of Koper and marina of Koper, site ST in Strunjan nature park
EXPERIMENTAL Mussel tissue was freezedried, extracted with methanol, concentrated, polyaromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons were separated on a chromatographic column (silica, alumina), separated fractions were analysed by gas chromatography.
Average length and width of analyzed mussel samples (STD-standard deviation, n=15) Year 2007 2008 2009 Sampling site KP ST Length (cm) average 6. 6 7. 3 6. 8 7. 4 7. 1 7. 3 STD 0. 4 0. 3 0. 4 0. 1 Width (cm) average 3. 1 3. 5 3. 1 3. 4 3. 3 3. 5 STD 0. 1 0. 1
Concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons in mussels (ng/g d. w. ; UCM and total aliphatic in µg/g d. w. ) and some evaluation indices Aliphatic hydrocarbons n-heptadecane (C 17) Pristane n-octadecane (C 18) Phytane ∑n-C 14 – n-C 34 Total resolved aliphatic UCM Total aliphatic UCM/Resolved Pri/Phy n-C 17/Pri n-C 18/Phy CPI 2007 2008 2009 KP ST 142 269 52 207 3390 108 42 39 15 1417 254 809 59 746 3461 179 98 54 53 1506 199 634 47 285 5643 227 220 79 25 1698 3866 99. 93 103. 8 26 1. 3 0. 5 0. 3 2. 4 1474 23. 99 25. 46 15 2. 8 2. 6 2. 8 5016 130. 33 135. 35 26 1. 1 0. 3 0. 1 1. 6 1657 18. 82 20. 48 10 1. 8 1. 0 2. 3 6562 112. 11 118. 67 17 2. 2 0. 3 0. 2 1943 20. 11 22. 05 5 8. 8 1. 0 3. 2 4. 8
Concentrations of individual aliphatic hydrocarbons at station KP (ng/g d. w. )
Concentrations of PAHs in mussels (ng/g d. w. ) and some evaluation indices (AN-anthracene, PHE-phenanthrene, FLU-fluoranthene, PY-pyrene) PAH 2007 KP Naphthalene Acenaphthylene Phenanthrene Anthracene 1 -Me-Phenanthrene 2 -Me-Phenanthrene Fluoranthene Pyrene Chrysene Benzo(a)anthracene Benzo(b)fluoranthene Benzo(k)fluoranthene Benzo(a)pyrene Indeno(1, 2, 3 -c, d)pyrene Dibenzo(a, h)anthracene Benzo(g, h, i)perylene Total PAH LMW/HMW AN/AN+PHE FLU/FLU+PY 2008 ST KP 2009 ST * 54 26 21 35 KP 2 2 ST 27 3 8 9 7 9 10 10 4 10 23 10 13 13 15 175 0. 50 0. 10 0. 47 44 11 32 69 37 4 16 3 89 87 64 42 66 40 24 21 20 16 605 20 18 21 33 1 28 35 33 35 44 32 9 26 31 19 385 105 78 85 19 25 72 19 11 16 8 594 15 26 34 5 11 29 16 21 16 3 236 60 44 9 19 6 61 62 48 23 34 35 31 17 15 15 483 0. 29 0. 33 0. 51 0. 32 0. 47 0. 44 0. 36 0. 20 0. 57 0. 34 0. 10 0. 37 0. 42 0. 50 4
Distribution of PAHs according to the number of aromatic rings Crossplot of two evaluation indices for PAH origin determination
CONCLUSIONS • Results of the present study show differencies in concentrations and origin of aliphatic hydrocarbons and PAHs in mussels from two investigated sites, the first one close to the Port of Koper and the second one in a nature park. • Concentrations of hydrocarbons were significantly higher at the entrance to the Port of Koper, compared to less polluted area in Strunjan. • The petrogenic origin (oil) of aliphatic hydrocarbons was the prevailing one, although the biogenic was also important. • The main PAH origin was pyrogenic, with significant part connected to petroleum combustion in Strunjan area. The petrogenic origin was relatively less important. • These results show important impact of maritime traffic and port activities on sea pollution with hydrocarbons. They also confirm mussels as good bioindicators for marine pollution monitoring.
Thank you for your attention
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