Ecotoxicological evaluation of sediments applied to environmental forensic investigation.

Autor: Alves RH; Instituto de Ciência Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil., Rietzler AC; Instituto de Ciência Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia [Braz J Biol] 2015 Nov; Vol. 75 (4), pp. 886-93. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Nov 10.
DOI: 10.1590/1519-6984.02214
Abstrakt: The present study aimed to evaluate the potential for using toxicity assays with sediment samples for the detection of water pollution caused by the discharge of tannery effluents into water bodies and its application to environmental forensic investigation. The study included ecotoxicological evaluation of sediments, survey of benthic organisms in the field, as well as chromium, cadmium and lead dosage which provided data for a sediment quality triad evaluation. The sediment samples showed acute and chronic toxicity to the bioindicators, low biodiversity of benthic macrofauna and high chromium concentration, reaching up to 4365 mg.Kg-1. A close relationship was observed between the separate results of ecotoxicological sediment evaluation and the sediment quality triad. The sediment ecotoxicological assessment proved to be applicable to tracking sources of contamination related to tanneries and similar activities in environmental forensics.
Databáze: MEDLINE