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In situ relationships between spatial–temporal variations in potential ecological risk indexes for metals and the short-term effects on periphyton in a macrophyte-dominated lake: a comparison of structural and functional metrics

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Abstract

Heavy metals may adversely affect the structure and function of the periphyton community in lake ecosystems. We carried out samplings of three habitats at eight sites located in the Lake Baiyangdian that is strongly influenced by wastewater discharge (Sites 1 and 2), aquaculture and densely populated villages (Sites 3, 6, and 8), and the least disturbed (Sites 4, 5, and 7). Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Hg, Cd, and Cr were determined in these samples, and the periphyton community was simultaneously studied. The contamination factor (C i f ) was estimated for every metal as the ratio between pre-industrial records from sediments (C i n ) and present concentration values (C i), and the individual potential risk (E i r ) was calculated by multiply the toxic response factor (Tr i) and C i f for a given substance were based on Hakanson’s methodology. The RI was obtained for each sampling site by summing the values of E i r first and the average was calculated across the sampling sites. The results showed that the RI for all three habitats was lower than 94, and they are in decreasing order: wastewater discharge, aquaculture and densely populated villages, and the least anthropogenic impacted. When the three sampling seasons were compared, August appeared to show the highest risk, followed by April and November. The RI values showed negative correlations (r = −0.444 to −0.851, p < 0.05) with the structural and functional metrics. The best correlation was detected between chlorophyll c/chlorophyll a (Chl c/a) ratio and E i r Hg (r = −0.851, p < 0.01). Our results suggest the periphyton community can be used in bio-monitoring.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Water Pollution Control Major Project of China (2008ZX07209-009, 2012ZX07203-006). We want to thank B.B. Wang for field sampling, We also want to thank Q.Y. Chen for providing critical feedback during preparation of the manuscript. Finally, we want to thank M.Y. Ma and X.M. Wang for providing some periphyton data.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control and School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Lulu Zhang & Jingling Liu

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  1. Lulu Zhang
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Correspondence to Jingling Liu.

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Zhang, L., Liu, J. In situ relationships between spatial–temporal variations in potential ecological risk indexes for metals and the short-term effects on periphyton in a macrophyte-dominated lake: a comparison of structural and functional metrics. Ecotoxicology 23, 553–566 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1175-0

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