Influence of habitats and physicochemical factors on trophic transfer processes of antibiotics in a freshwater ecosystem: Application of stable isotopes and human health risks

Abdul Qadeer; Zeeshan Ajmal; Liu Hanxia; Dai Ran; Tadiyose Girma Bekele; Kelly L Kirsten; Sisi Liu; Mengyang Liu; Huang Zhifeng; Dong Jing; Shuhang Wang; Jiang Xia; Zhao Xingru

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160765

Influence of habitats and physicochemical factors on trophic transfer processes of antibiotics in a freshwater ecosystem: Application of stable isotopes and human health risks

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 10:863:160765. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160765. Epub 2022 Dec 10.

Authors

Abdul Qadeer¹, Zeeshan Ajmal², Liu Hanxia³, Dai Ran⁴, Tadiyose Girma Bekele⁵, Kelly L Kirsten⁶, Sisi Liu⁷, Mengyang Liu⁸, Huang Zhifeng⁹, Dong Jing⁹, Shuhang Wang⁹, Jiang Xia⁹, Zhao Xingru⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, National Engineering Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing, China. Electronic address: Dr.AQ.Geographer@gmail.com.
² College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083 Beijing, China.
³ Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, Beijing 100123, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, National Engineering Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing, China. Electronic address: dairan@craes.org.cn.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian 116024, China.
⁶ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 8001, South Africa.
⁷ Environmental Research Institute/School of Environment, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, 999077, Hong Kong.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, National Engineering Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration, State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory for Lake Pollution Control, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing, China.

PMID: 36513226
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160765

Abstract

Habitats of species and physicochemical factors are of great importance in determining the trophic transfer of contaminants in freshwater ecosystems. There is little information on how multiple physicochemical factors and habitats influence the trophic transfer of antibiotics in freshwater food webs. This study investigated the concentrations of 7 sulfonamides (SAs), 4 fluoroquinolones (FQs), 4 tetracyclines (TCs) and 2 macrolides (MLs) in the Lake Dianshan food web. Stable isotope analysis (SIA), and mathematical models were used to assign trophic levels and distinguish between the benthic food web (BFW) and pelagic food web (PFW). Values of stable nitrogen isotope (δ¹⁵N‰) and stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C‰) ranged from 10.2 ± 0.11 to 19.72 ± 0.05 and -33.67 ± 0.18 to -20.79 ± 0.50, respectively. Total concentrations of antibiotics ranged from 36.63 ± 12.73 ng/g dry weight (dw) to 105.85 ± 12.95 ng/g dw for all species. The relative abundance of antibiotics was in the following order: ∑FQs (36.49 %) > ∑SAs (26.70 %), >∑MLs (12.63 %) for all biotas. Trophic magnification factor (TMFs) values for individual antibiotics ranged from 0.10 to 1.20 and 0.31 to 1.82 for PFW and BFW, respectively. Three classes of antibiotics ∑FQs (p < 0.05), ∑TCs (p < 0.05), and ∑MLs (p < 0.05) showed significant trophic dilution in PFW, opposite to non-significant trophic dilution in BFW. The influence of various physicochemical factors was not strong over trophic transfer (e.g., octanol-water partition coefficient-LogK_ow (r = -0.05 in PFW, r = -0.14 in BFW) and distribution coefficient-LogD (r = 0.06 in PWF, r = -0.28 in BFW)) except for aqueous solubility (LogS). Results indicated a significantly higher trophic dilution of antibiotics in the PFW than in the BFW. Among the studied six physicochemical factors, only LogS significantly influences (p < 0.05) the trophic transfer of antibiotics in the freshwater food web. Health risk assessments indicated that currently, there were no serious risks present for urban and rural populations.

Keywords: Aquatic food webs; Emerging contaminants; Fluoroquinolones (FQs); Sulfonamides (SAs); Tetracyclines (TCs); Trophic dilution.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / analysis
Carbon Isotopes / analysis
Ecosystem*
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes
Fluoroquinolones / analysis
Food Chain
Humans
Lakes / analysis
Nitrogen Isotopes / analysis
Sulfanilamide
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Carbon Isotopes
Nitrogen Isotopes
Sulfanilamide
Fluoroquinolones