Autor(es):
Cravo, Alexandra 
; Pereira, C. ; Gomes, T. ; Cardoso, C. ; Serafim, A. ; Almeida, Cheila Pereira ; Rocha, T. ; Lopes, B. ; Company, R. ; Medeiros, A. ; Norberto, R. ; Pereira, R. ; Araújo, O. ; Bebianno, Maria João da Anunciação Franco
Data: 2012
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/1111
Origem: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
Assunto(s): Ruditapes decussatus; Ria Formosa lagoon; Environmental monitoring; Multibiomarker approach
Descrição
The Ria Formosa lagoon is an ecosystem whose water quality reflects the anthropogenic influence upon
the surrounding areas. In this lagoon, the clam Ruditapes decussatus has a great economical importance
and has been widely used as a biomonitor. A multibiomarker approach (d-aminolevulinic acid dehy-
dratase, metallothionein, lipid peroxidation, acetylcholinesterase, alkali-labile phosphates, DNA damage)
was applied to assess the environmental quality of this ecosystem and the accumulation of contaminants
and their potential adverse effects on clams. Clams were sampled in different shellfish beds in the period
between July 2007 and December 2008 and abiotic parameters (temperature, salinity, pH and dissolved
oxygen of seawater and organic matter in the sediment), condition index, metals (Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb), TBTs
and PAHs concentrations were measured in clam tissues. Data was integrated using Principal Component
Analyses and biomarker indices: IBR (Integrated Biomarker Response) and HSI (Health Status Index). This
multibiomarker approach enabled discrimination of a time and space trend between sites with different
degrees of anthropogenic contamination, identifying one of them (site 2) as the most stressful and
summer months as the most critical period for clams due to an increase of environmental stress
(anthropogenic pressure along with extreme environmental conditions, e.g. temperature, dissolved
oxygen, organic matter in the sediments, etc). The selected biomarkers provided an integrated response
to assess the environmental quality of the system, proving to be a useful approach when complex
mixtures of contaminants occur.
