This review covers selected 2017 articles on the biological effects of pollutants and human physical disturbances on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, marine debris, dredging and disposal etc. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and proliferation of data on the assimilation and effects of marine debris microparticulates. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (e.g.mass mortalities ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not on pollutant sources, chemistry, fate or transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g.some bioaccumulation data may be appear in other topical categories such as effects of wastewater discharges, or biomarker studies appearing in oil toxicity literature). Therefore, we strongly urge readers to use keyword searching of the text and references to locate related but distributed information. Although nearly 400 papers are cited, these now represent a fraction of the literature on these subjects. Use this review mainly as a starting point. And please consult the original papers before citing them.

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/13696/noaa_13696_DS1.pdf

Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms.

To evaluate the use of morphological abnormalities for standard testing of endocrine-disrupting substances (EDS), we tested the hypothesis that developmental abnormalities are a sensitive indicator of exposure to waterborne estrogenic and antiestrogenic EDS during embryonic, larval, and juvenile stages in the common estuarine killifish, the mummichog (Pisces: Cyprinodontidae). Static exposures with daily renewal were carried out with 10 to 10,000 ng/L of the estrogen agonist 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) or antagonist ZM189,154 (ZM) for the first 25 or 60 d of life. Incidence of skeletal abnormalities (scoliosis, lordosis, head, craniofacial, jaw, fin) and soft tissue abnormality (anal swelling) were significantly increased by EE2 but only at high concentrations (1,000 or 10,000 ng/L). Sixty-day exposure produced more severe abnormalities than 25-d exposure and in a higher proportion of fish. Within the longer exposure, 10,000 ng/L EE2 produced more abnormal fish than 1,000 ng/L (100% vs 51.6%) and more abnormalities per abnormal fish (5.73 vs 1.47). Fish reared to 12 months in clean water after exposure for 60 d to 10,000 ng/L EE2 survived at a lower rate than controls, retained abnormalities with the exception of anal swelling and, like fish exposed to other concentrations of EE2 and ZM, showed increased weight at length at 6 and 12 months. Sixty-day exposure to ZM increased the incidence of scoliosis (1,000 ng/L) but decreased the overall incidences of abnormal fish and lordosis (10 and 10,000 ng/L). No impacts of EE2 or ZM were observed before hatch, and clearing and staining of larvae demonstrated that expression of vertebral abnormalities coincided temporally with ossification. We conclude that morphological abnormalities in mummichogs are not a sensitive indicator of exposure to estrogenic or antiestrogenic waterborne EDSs at environmentally relevant concentrations.

Utility of morphological abnormalities during early-life development of the estuarine mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, as an indicator of estrogenic and antiestrogenic endocrine disruption.

Effects of 17α-ethynylestradiol on early-life development, sex differentiation and vitellogenin induction in mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus)

The effects of dissolved humic acids(HA)on the acute toxicities of the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos and the organochlorine pesticide 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) were assessed by using freshwater crustaceans (Cerio-daphnia dubia) and saltwater crustaceans (Americamysis bahia). The effects of filtered Aldrich HAs (10–100 mg/L) on organism mortality were determined. Humic acids had no effect on mortality of A. bahia for either pesticide at a salinity of 20%, but greatly reduced the mortality of C. dubia for both pesticides in freshwater (0%). In the latter case, the effect was proportional to the HA concentration. The difference in toxicity mitigation as a function of salinity is believed to be due to conformational changes in the HA molecules, which impact pesticide—HA binding, rather than to organismal effects.

Effect of humic acids on toxicity of DDT and chlorpyrifos to freshwater and estuarine invertebrates.

Fish Physiology: Organic Chemical Toxicology of Fishes discusses the different types of organic chemical contaminants and their respective toxic effects in fish. The book also covers the detection of dissolved organic compounds and methods to assess organic toxicity. Substances addressed in this book include organometallics, hydrocarbons, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), insecticides, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals. Fish are exposed to an ever-increasing array of organic chemicals that find their way into rivers and oceans. Some of these compounds are no longer being produced but nonetheless persist within the environment (persistent organic pollutants, or POPs). The exposure of fish to toxic organic compounds has potential impact on human, fish, and ecosystem health. Yet the regulations that govern environmental water quality vary worldwide, and compliance is never complete. This book provides a crucial resource on these issues for researchers in zoology, fish physiology, and related fields; applied researchers in environmental monitoring, conservation biology, and toxicology; and university-level students and instructors in these areas. It is organized by type of toxic organic chemicals. It includes metals, POPs, EDCs, herbicides, insecticides, and pharmaceuticals. It measures toxicity in a variety of ways aside from lethality. It probes the toxic effects of compound mixtures as well as single pollutants.

Organic chemical toxicology of fishes

The use of DDT (an organochlorine insecticide) has been banned in Europe and North America and other industrialized nations. However, in other parts of the world, it is intensively used as an insecticide to control vectors of diseases such as malaria, plague, typhus fever, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, and river blindness, and to control agricultural pests. It is also used in forestry management to control pests such as the spruce bud-worm and the Dutch Elm disease (Laws 1981). DDT is a very effective insecticide with a relatively low toxicity towards humans (Pine et al. 1980). Its use as an insecticide is still recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

D. I. Anadu

Papers

Toxicity of DDT to the different life stages of the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus (Wabum).