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| Author(s): |
Paulo Cesar Meletti
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2003-08-14 |
| Examining board members: |
Odete Rocha;
Claudia Bueno dos Reis Martinez;
Maria Beatriz Bohrer Morel;
Nelsy Fenerich Verani
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| Advisor: | Odete Rocha |
| Abstract | |
Urban and industrial activities generate a large number of substances, frequently unknown, that if discharged into water body receptors can put at risk the whole aquatic biota, as well as human health. The present work evaluated the state of environmental degradation in the basins of rivers Piracicaba, Mogi Guaçu (both in São Paulo state) and Tibagi (Paraná state), using as tools the toxicity tests with sediments and fishes as test-organisms, for both laboratory and in situ evaluations, together with histopathological analyses of exposed animals and chemical and physical analysis of sediments and water. Also, histological alterations in fishes exposed to the final pulp-mill effluent were analyzed. The species selected as test-organisms were the native species of fish Serrapinnus notomelas (Characiformes, Characidae) and the standard exotic species Danio rerio (Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae). Hystological preparations were performed with whole fish specimens, what allowed the analysis of the target-organs: gills, kidney and liver in the same section. No fish mortality was found after 96 hours exposition to the sediment samples. Nevertheless histological analyses revealed important alterations, which were used to calculate the histological alteration index (IAH) and the mean value of alterations (VMA), for each organ and species, in each locality evaluated. Sediments coming from Sumaré (Atibaia river) and Piracicaba (Piracicaba river) were the most toxic to both species, according to the calculated index, followed by the sediments from Campinas (Atibaia river), Limeira (Jaguari river) and Americana (Piracicaba river). The sediments of Mogi Guaçu riber basin had a lower toxicity, but those coming from Mogi Guaçu and Luiz Antônio (both localities placed downstream pulp-mill plants) have caused significant alterations in kidney and liver of D. rerio. Although important alterations were found for both species of fish exposed to the sediments from Tibagi river basin, these were not as intense and frequent as those observed in the fishes exposed to the sediment from the other localities studied. Physical and chemical analysis corroborated the critical degree of environmental degradation of Piracicaba river basin and must be considered as an early warning for the measures that must be taken in relation to this and also to Mogi-Guaçu and Tibagi basins, where resources are increasingly being overexploited. The severe damage found in gills, kidney and liver of fishes exposed to the pulp-mill effluent suggest that monitoring this type of effluent must include a high sensibility tool, as the histopatological analysis on fish. (AU) | |