Ecological risk assessment to marine organisms induced by heavy metals in China's coastal waters. (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Mengzhu; Tong, Yindong; Chen, Cen; Liu, Xianhua; Lu, Yiren; Zhang, Wei; He, Wei; Wang, Xuejun; Zhao, Shen; Lin, Yan
• Is Part Of: Marine pollution bulletin. Volume 126(2018)
• Page Start: 349
• Page End: 356
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: Ecological risk assessment -- Heavy metals -- Marine organisms -- China's costal water -- Species sensitivity distributions; Marine pollution -- Periodicals; Marine Biology -- Periodicals; Water Pollution -- Periodicals; Mer -- Pollution -- Périodiques; Publications périodiques; Pollution des mers; Lutte antipollution; Electronic journals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.11.019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-326X

Abstract

Abstract: China's coastal environment has been heavily affected by the loading of terrestrial pollutants in recent decades, and quantitative risk assessment is urgently needed to assess the ecological risks of China's coastal environment. We assessed the ecological risks induced by five heavy metals (including Cu, Zn, Pb, Hg and As) in China's coastal waters for three groups of marine organisms (including crustacean, fish and mollusc) based on data obtained from a nationwide unified coastal environment monitoring program consisting of 301 sampling sites. The results show that higher heavy metal concentrations occurred more frequently in the Bohai Sea and in the estuaries of major sea-going rivers. The ecological risks decreased in the following order: Bohai Sea > Yellow Sea > South China Sea > East China Sea. There was generally low ecological risk, but certain hotspots existed near Tianjin and Jinzhou, which had relatively high ecological risks caused by Cu and Zn. Highlights: Nationwide coastal ecological risks due to heavy metals exposure is assessed for China. The ecological risks decreased as follows: Bohai Sea > Yellow Sea > South China Sea > East China Sea. There was generally low risk, hotspots existed near major estuaries with heavy industries.