o aquatic insects disperse metals from contaminated streams to land

Autor(es)

Augusto, Fernanda G. ^[1] ; Graca, Manuel A. S. ^[2] ; Martinelli, Luiz A. ^[1] ; Cacador, Isabel ^[3] ; Arce-Funck, Julio ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Nucl Energy Agr, Lab Isotope Ecol, Av Padua Dias 330, BR-13416000 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Coimbra, MARE Marine & Environm Res Ctr, Dept Life Sci, Coimbra - Portugal

^[3] Univ Lisbon, MARE Marine & Environm Res Ctr, Dept Plant Biol, Lisbon - Portugal

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Hydrobiologia; v. 849, n. 6, SI, p. 1437-1451, MAR 2022.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Mining activities often produce large amounts of pollutants that lead to streams affecting aquatic biota. Aquatic insects have a key role in energy transference from streams to terrestrial systems since emergent insects contribute to the diet of riparian predators. If streams are polluted, emergent insects may act as pollutant conveyors from water to land. Our objective was to investigate if insects inhabiting streams contaminated by heavy metals accumulate, biomagnify, and transfer metals to land. We selected eight streams with different levels of pollution and three metallic pollutants: copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn). We sampled (i) water and sediments, (ii) organic matter, macrophytes, and biofilm, (iii) aquatic insects, and (iv) riparian spiders (land predators). We classified the organisms in functional feeding groups (FFG) and used the nitrogen stable isotope (delta N-15) to determine the position of organisms in the food web. We found that contaminants in the sediments, but not in the water, were related to contaminant concentrations in biological samples. Biomagnification processes were metal dependent: Cu was biomagnified, Mn underwent biodilution, and no tendency was observed for Zn. The emergence of aquatic insects from metal-polluted rivers is a potential way of Cu, not Mn or Zn, flux to land. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 18/07806-4 - Efeitos do uso do solo em riachos: os metais escoados pela mineração retornam ao ambiente terrestre através da emergência e dispersão de insetos aquáticos? Uma abordagem isotópica
• Beneficiário: Fernanda Gaudio Augusto
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado