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In Situ Assessment of Donghu Lake China Using Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)

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Abstract

In this work, rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) was applied as a sentinel organism and set in cages at control and test sampling sites in Donghu Lake for 4 weeks in March, June, September, and December 2016 to assess the biological toxicity of in situ water. Sampling for active biomonitoring and physicochemical variables was performed weekly. The control was obtained from the outdoor pool of the Institute of Hydrobiology, China. Superoxide dismutase, lipoperoxidation, metallothioneins, acetylcholinesterase activity, and Vtg mRNA expression were determined as biomarkers during the field exposure period. Survival and growth also were monitored to evaluate the overall physiological condition of the fish. The seasonal changes of organic pollutants and trace metals (As, Hg, Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb) in surface water were determined. The integrated biomarker response (IBR) index was applied to summarize biomarker responses and correlate stress levels with concentrations of organic pollutants and trace metals in the surface water. Results indicated that complex pollution by persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals was present in Donghu Lake and that the in situ exposed organisms were stressed. Moreover, the complex pollution of Donghu Lake in summer and autumn was more serious than that in spring and winter. Active biomonitoring combined with IBR analysis enabled good discrimination among different exposure seasons. The proposed protocol with caged rare minnow revealed marked biological effects caused by the investigated Lake and a useful approach that can easily be extended to monitor water pollution.

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Acknowledgements

The study was granted by the science and technology support project of Hubei province (Grant No. 2015BCE098, the Foundation of Ph.D. Scientific Research of Neijiang Normal University (Grant No. 18B13) and the university level research project of Neijiang Normal University (Grant No. Z2019068).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoqin Xiong, Ning Qiu, Liangxia Su, Miaomiao Hou, Chunsen Xu & Jianwei Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Fish Resources, College of Life Sciences, Neijiang Normal University, Neijiang, 641100, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoqin Xiong

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoqin Xiong, Ning Qiu, Liangxia Su, Miaomiao Hou & Chunsen Xu

  4. Key Laboratory of Rare Mineral, Ministry of Natural Resources, Wuhan, 430034, People’s Republic of China

    Yuxiang Xiong, Xuelin Dong & Zhou Song

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  1. Xiaoqin Xiong
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  2. Ning Qiu
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  3. Liangxia Su
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  7. Xuelin Dong
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  8. Zhou Song
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  9. Jianwei Wang
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Correspondence to Jianwei Wang.

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All experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Protocol: Y21201-1-101).

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Xiong, X., Qiu, N., Su, L. et al. In Situ Assessment of Donghu Lake China Using Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus). Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 79, 246–257 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00744-9

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