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Impact of wastewater on fish health: a case study at the Neckar River (Southern Germany) using biomarkers in caged brown trout as assessment tools

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Abstract

The present work describes a field survey aiming at assessing the impact of a sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent on fish health by means of biomarkers. Indigenous fish were absent downstream of the STP. To elucidate the reason behind this, brown trout (Salmo trutta f. fario) were exposed in floating steel cages up- and downstream of a STP located at the Neckar River near Tübingen (Southern Germany), for 10 and 30 days. A combination of biomarker methods (histopathological investigations, analysis of the stress protein Hsp70, micronucleus test, B-esterase assays) offered the possibility to investigate endocrine, geno-, proteo- and neurotoxic effects in fish organs. Biological results were complemented with chemical analyses on 20 accumulative substances in fish tissue. Even after short-term exposure, biomarkers revealed clear evidence of water contamination at both Neckar River sites; however, physiological responses of caged brown trout were more severe downstream of the STP. According to this, similar bioaccumulation levels (low μg/kg range) of DDE and 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected at both sampling sites, while up to fourfold higher concentrations of four PAHs, methyl-triclosan and two synthetic musks occurred in the tissues of downstream-exposed fish. The results obtained in this study suggest a constitutive background pollution at both sites investigated at the Neckar River and provided evidence for the additional negative impact of the STP Tübingen on water quality and the health condition of fish.

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Abbreviations

ACE:

Acenaphthene

ACY:

Acenaphthylene

AChE:

Acetylcholinesterase

AHTN:

Tonaide

ANT:

Anthracene

BA:

Benz[a]anthracene

BAP:

Benzo[a]pyrene

BBF:

Benzo[b]fluoranthene

BKF:

Benzo[k]fluoranthene

CbE:

Carboxylesterase

CHR:

Chrysene

DDE:

Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene

DW:

Dry weight

FL:

Fluorene

FLU:

Fluoranthene

GHI:

Benzo[ghi]perylene

HHCB:

Galaxolide

Hsp:

Heat shock protein

IND:

Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene

MTCS:

Methyl-triclosan

NAP:

Naphthalene

NPA:

4-nitrophenyl acetate

NPV:

4-nitrophenyl valerate

PAH:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

PHE:

Phenanthrene

PYR:

Pyrene

STP:

Sewage treatment plant

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Carl Zeiss Foundation and the Foundation of the Landesnaturschutzverband (LNV) Baden-Württemberg for their financial support. We also thank Simon Schwarz for advice on the statistics, Alexandra Scheil and Bálint Nagy for comments on the manuscript, Stefanie Krais for the introduction to the B-esterase assays, and Andreas Dieterich, Anja Henneberg, Carla Lorenz, Diana Maier, Katharina Peschke and Paul Thellmann for their assistance and help in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Physiological Ecology, University of Tübingen, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 20, 72072, Tübingen, Germany

    Krisztina Vincze, Volker Scheil, Heinz R. Köhler & Rita Triebskorn

  2. Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Bandtäle 2, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Bertram Kuch

  3. Steinbeis-Transfer Center for Ecotoxicology and Ecophysiology, Blumenstr. 13, 72108, Rottenburg, Germany

    Rita Triebskorn

Authors
  1. Krisztina Vincze
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  2. Volker Scheil
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  3. Bertram Kuch
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  4. Heinz R. Köhler
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  5. Rita Triebskorn
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Correspondence to Krisztina Vincze.

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Responsible editor: Cinta Porte

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix A

Table 1 Basic physicochemical features of the caging sites up- and downstream of the Tübingen STP measured in May 2012 (Vincze et al. 2014)
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Appendix B

Table 2 Significance levels (p values) of Hsp70 data after comparing the different exposure groups by each organ
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Appendix C

Table 3 Significant (*p < 0.05) differences between exposure groups in tissue concentration levels of various bioaccumulative organic compounds
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Vincze, K., Scheil, V., Kuch, B. et al. Impact of wastewater on fish health: a case study at the Neckar River (Southern Germany) using biomarkers in caged brown trout as assessment tools. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 11822–11839 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4398-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4398-6

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