title: Invertebrate community responses to emerging water pollutants in Iberian river basins.
abstract: Chemical pollution is one of the greatest threats to freshwater ecosystems, especially in Mediterranean watersheds, characterized by periodical low flows that may exacerbate chemical exposure. Different groups of emerging pollutants have been detected in these basins during the last decade. This study aims to identify the relationships between the presence and levels of prioritary and emerging pollutants (pesticides, pharmaceutical active compounds--PhACs, Endocrine Disrupting Compounds EDCs and Perfluorinated Compounds--PFCs) and the invertebrate community in four Mediterranean basins: the Ebro, the Llobregat, the Júcar and the Guadalquivir. Structural (species composition and density) and functional (catalase activity of the tricopteran Hydropsyche exocellata and the feeding activity of the cladoceran Daphnia magna) variables were analyzed to determine which of the pollutants would greatly influence invertebrate responses. EDCs and conductivity, followed by PhACs, were the most important variables explaining the invertebrate density changes in the studied basins, showing a gradient of urban and industrial pollutions. Despite this general pattern observed in the four studied basins - impoverishment of species diversity and abundance change with pollution - some basins maintained certain differences. In the case of the Llobregat River, analgesics and anti-inflammatories were the significant pollutants explaining the invertebrate community distribution. In the Júcar River, fungicides were the main group of pollutants that were determining the structure of the invertebrate community. Functional biomarkers tended to decrease downstream in the four basins. Two groups of pollutants appeared to be significant predictors of the catalase activity in the model: EDCs and PhACs. This study provides evidence that the information given by functional biomarkers may complement the results found for the structural community descriptors, and allowed us to detect two emerging contaminant groups that are mainly affecting the invertebrate community in these basins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: ndecastro@ub.edu.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Castro-Català
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet (ILPLA-CONICET-UNLP), Boulevard 120, 61 y 62, s/n, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Armendáriz
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Water Research ICRA, C/Emili Grahit, 101, 17003 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barceló
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Laboratorio de Limnologia, Instituto de Biociencias, Universidade de Sao Paulo, R. do Matao, Travessa 14, 321, Butanta, 05508-090 Sao Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: López-Doval
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research ICRA, C/Emili Grahit, 101, 17003 Girona, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona,Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.affiliation: Food and Environmental Safety Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitat de Valencia, Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Picó
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Riera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development; D044822:Biodiversity; D003621:Daphnia; D017753:Ecosystem; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007313:Insecta; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013030:Spain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Biomarker; Catalase activity; Endocrine disrupting compounds; Feeding rate; Pharmaceutical active compounds