PAH related effects on fish in sedimentation ponds for road runoff and potential transfer of PAHs from sediment to biota

Merete Grung, Karina Petersen, Eirik Fjeld, Ian Allan, Jan H. Christensen, Linus Mattias Valdemar Malmquist, Sondre Meland, Sissel Ranneklev

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Road runoff is an important source of pollution to the aquatic environment, and sedimentation ponds have been installed to mitigate effects on the aquatic environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate if a) fish from sedimentation ponds were affected by road pollution and; b) the transfer of PAHs from road runoff material to aquatic organisms was substantial. Minnow from a sedimentation pond (Skullerud) near Oslo (Norway) had higher levels of CYP1A enzyme and DNA stand breaks than minnow from the nearby river, but high concentrations of PAH-metabolites in bile revealed that both populations were highly exposed. Principal component analysis revealed that CYP1A and age of fish were correlated, while levels of PAH-metabolites were not correlated to CYP1A or DNA damage. Minnow from a lake un-affected by traffic had much lower levels of PAH-metabolites than the exposed fish, and also an improved condition. The latter results indicate that fish health was affected by road runoff. A closer investigation of PAH levels of the ecosystems of two sedimentation ponds (Skullerud and Vassum) and nearby environments were conducted. The concentration of the 16 EPA PAHs in sediments of the sedimentation ponds were high (1900-4200ngg(-1)), and even higher levels were observed in plants. Principal component analysis of selected ion chromatograms of PAHs showed a clear separation of plants vs. sediments. The plants preferentially accumulated the high molecular PAHs, both from sedimentation ponds with a petrogenic PAH isomer ratio in sediments; and from a lake with pyrogenic PAH isomer ratio in sediments.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume566-567
Pages (from-to)1309-1317
Number of pages9
ISSN0048-9697
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2016

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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