Ctalamochita River Watershed Biomonitoring using two South American native species: First approach.

BERTRAND, L.; MONFERRÁN, MAGDALENA VICTORIA; MOUNEYRAC, CATHERINE; AMÉ, MARÍA VALERIA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; SETAC Latin America 11th Biennial Meeting; 2015

SETAC

The worldwide degradationof aquatic environments by different pollutants has increased in the lastcentury. Argentina is not an exception to this problem and qualityassessment of water resources has become a priority. The aim of thiswork was to carry out an active biomonitoring of Ctalamochita River(Córdoba, Argentina) using two native species: Potamogeton pusillus andPalaemonetes argentinus. Seven sites have been selected according toland use in different watershed areas?: A- Upstream: Pre and Post SantaRosa de Ctalamochita city sites (S1 and S2), with low density of urbanuse; B-Middle Basin: Balneario Almafuerte (S3), with agricultural andurban use; Post Rio Tercero city (S4), with urban and agricultural useand industrial hud; Pre Villa María city agricultural and food industry(S5); C- Downstream: Post Villa María city (S6) and Pre Bell Ville city(S7), both of them characterized by an agricultural, urban and industrialuse of land. Organisms have been collected in a low polluted site andexposed in the sites before described. After 96 hours exposure, theywere removed and conserved for subsequent biomarkers? determination:metals accumulation (Fe, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ag, Hg, B, Al, Co, Ni, Pb, As, Ba,Sr, V, Mn), enzymatic activity and metallothioneins (MTs). Water andsediments samples have been recollected to physic-chemical parametersand metals concentration determinations. According to our results, theselected species responded at different levels of contamination to whichthey were exposed. A metal pollution gradient in sediments can beobserved along the river, and a decrease in water quality index, from theupstream to downstream. In agreement, a significant differences havebeen observed in biomarkers levels among biomonitored sites. Metallevels in organisms? tissues augmented in the middle and downstream,especially in S4 where Cr, Fe, Al, Zn and Co showed higherconcentrations. Enzymatic activities and MTs levels increased in areasbefore mentioned, standing out again the S4. According to our firstresults, the S4 should be the more contaminated, at least about metalcontamination, among the biomonitored sites in our study. Probably theintense chemical and metallurgical industrial activities developed in RioTercero city, as well as the presence of tannerries, are the responsible ofpollution biomonitored. Finally, the present study proved the rapidresponse of selected native species when they were exposed at aquaticcontamination