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Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms

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A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecotoxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 August 2023) | Viewed by 7064

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Vincent Leignel

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Guest Editor

Laboratory BIOSSE, Le Mans University, Le Mans, France
Interests: ecotoxicology; marine animals; molecular adaptation; conservation Biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The marine environment is a place of high biodiversity, but unfortunately, it is also the recipient of a wide range of pollution, mainly due to anthropogenic activities. Despite growing societal concern about the quality of our environment, it is estimated that marine pollution levels will continue to increase in the coming decades. This Special Issue entitled “Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms” aims to expose, through several study models (cetacean, fish, mollusc, plankton...), the harmful effects of various pollutants (metals, microplastics...) as reflection of the degradation of our marine environment.

This Special Issue will focus on the stress responses (growth inhibition, mortality, antioxidative enzymatic proteins synthesis, etc.) of marine organisms reflecting different ecological niches (producers, filters, grazers, predators).

Dr. Vincent Leignel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

pollution
marine organisms
stress responses

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 4147 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lysosomal Membrane Stability of Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819) as a Biomarker of Cellular Stress for Environmental Contamination

by Elena-Daniela Pantea, Valentina Coatu, Nicoleta-Alexandra Damir, Andra Oros, Luminita Lazar and Natalia Rosoiu

Toxics 2023, 11(8), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11080649 - 26 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1125

Abstract

The lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) of hemocytes in wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) as a biomarker of cellular stress for chemical pollution was tested by neutral red retention time (NRRT) assays. To assess the environmental contamination in the study area, seawater quality and pollutant bioaccumulation throughout the soft tissue of mussels were investigated. The samples were collected in July 2022 at four sites on the Romanian Black Sea coast considered to be differently affected by contamination. To support the suitability of LMS as a biomarker of contaminant-induced stress, the contaminant body burdens of the mussels were compared with the NRRT values. The results showed a significantly reduced NRRT in all investigated locations, particularly in port areas (mean retention time between 11 and 14 min). The elevated bioaccumulation of organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and low NRRTs were observed at the most contaminated sites (i.e., ports). The low lysosomal stability reflected stress and damage in the hemocytes of mussels and could be related to the body burdens of contaminants. LMS is an effective indicator of health status in mussels and could be considered a sensitive biomarker of cellular stress induced by contaminant exposure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms)

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20 pages, 1877 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Year Monitoring of the Toxicological Risk of Heavy Metals Related to Fish Consumption by the Population of the Kendari Region (Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia)

by Mimie Saputri, Yusnaini Yusnaini, La Sara, Ita Widowati, Thierry Guyot, Denis Fichet and Gilles Radenac

Toxics 2023, 11(7), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11070592 - 7 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1075

Abstract

This study measured the concentrations of Hg, As, Ni, Cd, and Pb in six fish species commonly consumed in Kendari. Samples were bought within local markets from 2012 to 2017 at the end of the dry season. Results showed that mercury concentrations fluctuated between years and within species, except in the Caranx sexfasciatus, which showed no significant differences (Kruskall–Wallis, p-value > 0.05, df = 5) and an average concentration of 0.371 ± 0.162 µg g⁻¹ DW. Arsenic was found in high concentrations across species and years and varied widely in C. sexfasciatus, the lowest value being 0.32 ± 0.01 µg g⁻¹ DW in 2012 and the highest was 5.63 ± 1.89 µg g⁻¹ DW in 2017. The highest nickel concentrations were found in 2016 across four of the six species. The fish samples displayed very low cadmium and lead concentrations throughout the study. In addition, the potential human health risk due to fish consumption was assessed. This showed that mercury is the only one of the five metals present in concentrations high enough to individually pose a potential hazard, the only metal likely to be accumulated beyond a safe concentration in Kendari. Chanos chanos never posed a toxicological risk based on the results of this research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms)

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15 pages, 4043 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation Experiment of Environmental Impact of Deep-Sea Mining: Response of Phytoplankton Community to Polymetallic Nodules and Sediment Enrichment in Surface Water

by Rimei Ou, Lei Cai, Jinli Qiu, Hao Huang, Danyun Ou, Weiwen Li, Fanyu Lin, Xuebao He, Lei Wang and Risheng Wu

Toxics 2022, 10(10), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10100610 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1775

Abstract

In this paper, simulation experiments were conducted to study the response of phytoplankton biomass and community composition to the influence of polymetallic nodules and sediment at four stations in the western Pacific in 2021. Chlorophyll a, pico-phytoplankton cell abundance, and metal concentration were measured before and after 24 h of deck incubation. The results show that there were three different patterns of response, namely, restrained, stimulated, and unaffected patterns. The restrained pattern appeared in the filtered treatments at station Incub.01, and the stimulated pattern appeared in the unfiltered treatments at station Incub.02. The response of the phytoplankton was not detectable at stations Incub.03 and 04. Regardless, positive and negative responses were found in the dominant pico-phytoplankton group—Prochlorococcus—and with slight variation in Synechococcus. The concentration of manganese varied among the treatments compared to that of iron and other metals. The factors affecting the growth of the phytoplankton in this study were metal concentrations and turbidity. The phytoplankton biomass baseline may also have played an important role: the lower the biomass, the higher the growth rate. This study proved that deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining will have a specific impact on surface phytoplankton biomass, but turbidity and particle retention time could be important factors in mitigating the extent of the impact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms)

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Review

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16 pages, 1096 KiB

Open AccessReview

Solar Salterns and Pollution: Valorization of Some Endemic Species as Sentinels in Ecotoxicology

by Wassim Guermazi, Neila Annabi-Trabelsi, Genuario Belmonte, Kais Guermazi, Habib Ayadi and Vincent Leignel

Toxics 2023, 11(6), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11060524 - 10 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2360

Abstract

Solar salterns and salt marshes are unique ecosystems with special physicochemical features and characteristic biota. Currently, there are very few studies focused on the impacts of pollution on these economic and ecological systems. Unfortunately, diversified pollution (metals, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, etc.) has been detected in these complex ecosystems. These hypersaline environments are under increasing threat due to anthropogenic pressures. Despite this, they represent a valuable source of microbial diversity, with taxa displaying special features in terms of environmental remediation capacities as well as economical species such as Artemia spp. (Branchiopoda) and Dunaliella salina (Chlorophyta). In this review, we discuss the impacts of pollution on these semi-artificial systems. Therefore, we have indicated the sentinel species identified in plankton communities, which can be used in ecotoxicological investigations in solar salterns. In future, researchers should increase their interest in pollution assessment in solar salterns and salt marshes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Pollution and Stress Responses in Marine Organisms)

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