Contrasting Ecotoxic Effects of Landfill Leachate and Cyanobacterial Biomass on Aquatic Organisms

Montvydienė, Danguolė; Šulčius, Sigitas; Jurgelėnė, Živilė; Makaras, Tomas; Kalcienė, Virginija; Taraškevičius, Ričardas; Kazlauskas, Mindaugas; Kazlauskienė, Nijolė

Contrasting Ecotoxic Effects of Landfill Leachate and Cyanobacterial Biomass on Aquatic Organisms

2020

The ecotoxicological effect of multicomponent mixtures (landfill leachate (LL) and biomass of harmful cyanobacterial bloom (cyanoHAB)) on growth and mortality of organisms belonging to different trophic levels and development stages was investigated. The effect of LL and cyanoHAB biomass on test organisms was concentration- and trophic-level-dependent, and in the case of fish, development stage–dependent. The secondary consumer Oncorhynchus mykiss and larvae of the Danio rerio proved to be most sensitive to LL additions, while Scenedesmus quadricauda, representing primary producers, to cyanoHAB exposure. The overall ecotoxic effect of both mixtures on the tested organisms varied from low (Class II) to high (Class IV). This study highlights complex and unambiguous effects of LL and cyanoHAB biomass on aquatic organisms. We suggest that the use of multiple tests on organisms belonging to different trophic levels for the assessment of the ecotoxicological risk of these mixtures may provide a better understanding of how anthropogenic pollution affects food web functioning.

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