An approach pooling geochemical analyses and ecotoxicological tests has been applied to assess the sediment quality of the Capibaribe River Estuary, Brazil. Toxicity tests were performed to compare a well-established, labor-intensive protocol using ovigerous females to a new, easier and faster protocol using nauplii of the epibenthic marine copepod Tisbe biminiensis. The endpoints of the nauplii toxicity test were comparable to those of the female test. Nauplii proved to be more sensitive than females as a biological model for indicating sediment toxicity. All sediments collected had at least one contaminant above the threshold effects level (TEL) proposed in the literature. Furthermore, more than one-third of samples exhibited contaminants above the probable effects level (PEL). The PCA revealed that nauplii mortality was associated with metals in October 2014, which was confirmed by the Spearman correlation factor. In contrast, no strong association among contaminants and toxicological endpoints in May 2015 was found.

Metallothioneins content was investigated in digestive gland of two wild-caught Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus populations from the Northern Adriatic Sea, in relation to body size, season and gender. Concomitant accumulation of cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, chromium and manganese, reactive oxygen species concentration and energy reserves in digestive gland were also assessed. While differences between genders were not recorded, metallothioneins content seasonal trends were affected by body size. Most of parameters displayed inconsistent trends across sampling sites. Significant correlation between metallothioneins content and cadmium, arsenic and mercury concentrations was recorded only for larger lobsters. A negative correlation of reactive oxygen species concentration and metallothioneins content was observed for small, but not large lobsters. Energy reserves, in particular lipids, could considerably influence biochemical and chemical parameters variations. The present results constitute the essential baseline for future studies aimed at evaluating the N. norvegicus health in relation to metal contamination of coastal sediments.

Environmental antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has drawn increasing attention due to its great risk to human health. The aim of this study was to investigate AMR and genotyping of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates (n = 114) recovered from shrimp mariculture environment in China. The isolates exhibited a high rate of resistance to streptomycin (78.9%), ampicillin (64.9%) and gentamicin (53.5%). Furthermore, multi-drug resistance was highly prevalent (61.4%), in which 95.9% of these ampicillin-resistant isolates were primarily mediated by blaCARB-17. Surprisingly, doxycylcine, florfenicol, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMZ) resistance genes occurred in susceptible isolates. Moreover, 114 isolates were grouped into unique pulsed field gel electrophoresis patterns. These findings suggest the need for the prudent use of antimicrobial agents on mariculture farms, in order to control the dissemination of antimicrobial resistant V. parahaemolyticus.

The compartment model POSEIDON-R with an embedded food web model was used to assess 137Cs distributions in the Baltic and Black seas and off the Pacific coast of Japan during 1945–2020 due to the weapon testing and accidents at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants. The results of simulations conducted with generic parameters agreed well with measurements of 137Cs concentrations in the water, bottom sediments, and in fish. In the Black and Baltic seas, salinity variations affected the transfer of 137Cs through the food web. The contamination of pelagic fish followed the water contamination with some delay, whereas demersal fish depuration was found to be related to decreasing 137Cs concentrations in the upper sediment layer. On the Pacific shelf off Japan, intensive currents and eddies caused the simulated depuration rates in fish to be one-two orders of magnitude larger than those in the semi-enclosed Black and Baltic seas.

Despite the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the Southern California Bight, few studies have examined pharmaceutical compounds in local biota. The Round Stingray (Urobatis halleri) was selected as a representative elasmobranch species to perform an exploratory study on environmental pharmaceutical exposure. Archived liver samples of males and females from juvenile to adult size classes from several locations (n = 53) were examined for 18 pharmaceutical and illicit drug compounds using isotope-dilution LC-MS/MS. Very few compounds were detected in stingray livers, with diphenhydramine as the only pharmaceutical above quantitation limits. Only stingrays collected from the urban site (mainland California) had detectable levels of diphenhydramine compared to no detections in reference stingrays (offshore island). Sex and sampling location substantially influenced both detection rate and concentrations. Our results suggest that aspects of species' ecology and physiology should be considered for future studies investigating pharmaceutical exposure in elasmobranchs.

Tar balls are prevalent in oceans and the coastal environment; however, their origins are not well constrained on a global scale. To address this, we used gas chromatography to analyze the molecular composition of a unique set of 100 pelagic tar balls collected in the Western North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea between 1988 and 2016. Hierarchal cluster analysis (HCA) was employed to classify the samples into groups based on the relative proportions of resolved and unresolved hydrocarbon distributions. Additional analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons revealed that 28% of samples originated from heavy fuel oils and therefore had anthropogenic origins consistent with the classifications based on HCA. Other samples examined could originate from anthropogenic or natural origins, such as natural seeps. This study provides a preliminary record of 100 classified pelagic tar ball samples and demonstrates an approach to determine their origin to the environment.

Information is scarce on historical trends of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the coastal environment. In this study, four sediment cores were collected from semi-enclosed bays of Korea to investigate the pollution history, contamination profiles, and environmental burden of PFASs. The total PFAS concentrations in sediment cores ranged from 6.61 to 821 pg/g dry weight. The highest concentrations of PFASs were found in surface or sub-surface sediments, indicating on-going contamination by PFASs. Historical trends in PFASs showed a clear increase since the 1980s, which was consistent with the global PFAS consumption pattern. Concentrations of PFASs were dependent on the organic carbon content in sediment cores. PFOS and longer-chain PFASs were predominant in all of the sediment cores. In particular, a large proportion of longer-chain PFASs was observed in the upper layers of the sediment cores from industrialized coastal regions. Inventories and fluxes estimated for PFASs were similar to those for PCDD/Fs.

Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, provide a wide range of ecosystem services, defined here as natural processes and components that directly or indirectly benefit human needs. Recent research has shown that there are still many gaps in our comprehension of seagrass ecosystem service provision. Furthermore, there seems to be little public knowledge of seagrasses in general and the benefits they provide. This begs the questions: how do we move forward with the information we have? What other information do we need and what actions do we need to take in order to improve the situation and appreciation for seagrass? Based on the outcomes from an international expert knowledge eliciting workshop, three key areas to advance seagrass ecosystem service research were identified: 1) Variability of ecosystem services within seagrass meadows and among different meadows; 2) Seagrass ecosystem services in relation to, and their connection with, other coastal habitats; and 3) Improvement in the communication of seagrass ecosystem services to the public. Here we present ways forward to advance seagrass ecosystem service research in order to raise the profile of seagrass globally, as a means to establish more effective conservation and restoration of these important coastal habitats around the world.

The effects of enclosed, semi-closed, and opened reclamation methods on the macrobenthos community structure were investigated. Compared with their paired controls, water salinity decreased sharply in the enclosed reclamation region with no apparent change in the opened reclamation region. Declining species and biodiversity was observed in the reclamation regions, but the extent of this declining trend was weaker in the semi-closed and opened reclamations than in the enclosed reclamation region. The ABC curve indicated that the enclosed reclamation was disturbed, whereas the semi-closed and opened reclamations were undisturbed. Taken together, these results suggest that reclamation may have a negative effect on the community and health status of macrobenthos in the intertidal wetlands of the Yangtze Estuary. Semi-closed and opened reclamation methods may mitigate the problem of a salinity decrease caused by enclosed reclamation, while also having a relatively weaker negative effect on community structure and wetland habitat.