How to quantify the links between bioavailable contamination in watercourses and pressures of anthropogenic land cover, contamination sources and hydromorphology at multiple scales?

Abstract

Active biomonitoring permits the quantification of biological exposure to chemicals through measurements of bioavailable concentrations in biota and biological markers of toxicity in organisms. It enables respective comparison of the levels of contamination between sites and sampling campaigns. Caged gammarids are recently proposed as relevant probes for measuring bioavailable contamination in freshwater systems. The purpose of the present study was to develop a multi-pressure and multiscale approach, considering metallic contamination levels (from data based on active biomonitoring) as a response to pressures (combination of individual stressors). These pressures were anthropogenic land cover, industry density, wastewater treatment plant density, pressures on stream hydromorphological functioning, riverside vegetation and bioavailability factors. A dataset combining active biomonitoring and potentially related pressures was established at the French national scale, with 196 samplings from 2009 to 2016. The links between pressures and metallic contamination were defined and modelled via structural equation modeling (more specifically partial least squares - path modeling). The model enabled the understanding of the respective influences of pressures on metallic bioconcentration in caged sentinel organisms. Beyond validating the local influence of industries and wastewater treatment plants on metallic contamination, this model showed a complementary effect of driving forces of anthropogenic land cover (leading to human activities). It also quantified a significant influence of pressures on stream hydromorphological functioning, presence of vegetation and physico-chemical parameters on metal bioconcentration. This hierarchical multi-pressure approach could serve as a concept on how pressures and contamination (assessed by active biomonitoring) can be connected. Its future application will enable better understanding of environmental pressures leading to contamination in freshwater ecosystems.

Keywords: Freshwater ecosystems; Gammarids; Metallic contamination; Multiple stressors; Partial least squares - path modeling.