Impact of cigarette butt leachate on tidepool snails.
In urban areas, cigarette butts are the most common discarded refuse articles. In marine intertidal zones, they often fall into tidepools. We tested how common intertidal molluscs were affected by butt leachate in a laboratory experiment, where snails were exposed to various leachate concentrations. Mortality was very high, with all species showing 100% mortality at the full leachate concentration (5 butts per litre and 2h soak time) after 8days. However, Austrocochlea porcata showed higher mortality than the other 2 species at lower concentrations (10%, 25%) which may affect the relative abundance of the 3 snails under different concentrations of leachate pollution. Also, sublethal effects of leachate on snail activity were observed, with greater activity of Nerita atramentosa than the other 2 species at higher concentrations, suggesting it is more resilient than the other 2 species. While human health concerns predominate with respect to smoking, we show strong lethal and sublethal (via behavioural modifications) impacts of discarded butts on intertidal organisms, with even closely-related taxa responding differently.
Fish Ecology Lab, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia. Electronic address: David.Booth@uts.edu.au.
David J
DJ
Booth
Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Paul
P
Gribben
Fish Ecology Lab, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia.
Kerryn
K
Parkinson
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D006801:Humans; D012907:Smoking; D012908:Snails / Q000187:drug effects*; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000633:toxicity*; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Activity level; Behaviour; Cigarette butt leachate; Intertidal snails; Mortality; Sub-lethal