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Laboratory study of Se speciation in the sediment and oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus from an aquatic environment

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Abstract

Sediments are the major sink for selenium (Se) in aquatic environments. Se speciation in sediments is crucial for its bioavailability and toxicity in benthos, but this is relatively understudied. In this study, the background levels of Se in the river sediments, fish flakes, and Lumbriculus variegatus were also detected. Then, the dynamic changes of selenium speciation and concentrations in sediments were investigated after adding selenite (Se(IV)) and seleno-L-methionine (Se-Met) in the sediments for 90 and 7 days, and the accumulation and depuration of Se(IV) and Se-Met for 7 days in the oligochaete L. variegatus were also explored. Without the presence of worms, the levels of Se(IV) in the sediments were relatively stable within 7 days but showed a decreasing trend during the 90 days of aging. In contrast, Se-Met in the sediments showed a sharp decrease within 3 days of aging. The LC50-96 h values of Se(IV) and Se-Met in L. variegatus were 372.6 and 9.4 μg/g, respectively. Interestingly, the dominant Se species in Se(IV)- or Se-Met-treated L. variegatus was Se-Met, whose level was increased with time in 7 days of exposure. Se was barely depurated from L. variegatus during the 8 days of the depuration period. This study has provided indispensable data on the levels of total Se in the abiotic and biotic matrices and the biodynamics of Se in a representative benthos, which could better understand the ecological risk of Se to the freshwater benthic communities.

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Funding

The authors thank the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1801200, 2018YFD0900601), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31960733, 41877366, 41807352, 42107292, 42177256, 42177257), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515110789, 2020A1515010508), and Special Fund for the Construction of Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System (CARS-46) for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Jichen Yang and Xin Yan contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Jichen Yang, Hongsong Liu, Hongxing Chen, Dan Li & Lingtian Xie

  2. School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, West Waihuan Road 378, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Jichen Yang, Hongsong Liu, Hongxing Chen, Dan Li & Lingtian Xie

  3. Guangxi Academy of Fishery Sciences, Nanning, 530021, China

    Xin Yan

  4. Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Wei Zhang

  5. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, Collage of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, Tongliao, China

    Wu Dong

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  1. Jichen Yang
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Contributions

Jichen Yang: Conceptualization, software, investigation, writing—original draft. Xin Yan: Conceptualization, software, investigation, writing—original draft. Hongsong Liu: Investigation, data curation. Hongxing Chen: Software, funding acquisition. Wei Zhang: Funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. Wu Dong: Funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. Dan Li: Funding acquisition, writing—review & editing, supervision. Lingtian Xie: Conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Dan Li.

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Yang, J., Yan, X., Liu, H. et al. Laboratory study of Se speciation in the sediment and oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus from an aquatic environment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 90435–90445 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22108-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22108-7

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