Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume - Posters
VARIOUS TOPICS
S. SOMIGLI, E. FANELLO*, G. PERRA*, S. FOCARDI*, A. UGOLINI
Department of Evolutionary Biology “Leo Pardi”, University of Florence, Via Romana, 17 – 50125 Firenze, Italia.
silvia.somigli@unifi.it
*Dep. Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Italia.
SEASONAL VARIATION IN PAHs CONCENTRATION
IN THREE SPECIES OF TALITRID AMPHIPODS (CRUSTACEA)
VARIAZIONE STAGIONALE DELLA CONCENTRAZIONE DI IPA
IN TRE SPECIE DI ANFIPODI TALITRIDI (CRUSTACEA)
Abstract – We evaluated the possibility that seasonal changes in PAHs environmental availability may
affect the concentrations of those contaminants in three species of talitrid Amphipods. Talitrus saltator and
Orchestia montagui seem to preferentially accumulate PAHs in the summer, instead Platorchestia platensis
shows an opposite trend. PAHs accumulation in these animals is probably influenced by the season,
nevertheless supralittoral amphipods could be promising bioindicators of PAHs contamination.
Key-words: talitrid amphipods, PAHs, seasonal variation.
Introduction – The use of various organisms as bioindicators of Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination in the marine environment has been assessed in
many studies (Meador et al., 1995; Baumard et al., 1998). One of the factor which
could influence the PAHs environmental availability and the concentration of these
contaminants in the animals could be the season. Recent studies on talitrid amphipods
showed that these crustaceans could accumulate PAHs (Somigli et al., 2008). In this
paper we evaluated the possibility that the seasonal changes in these organic
compounds availability in the supralittoral zone may affect the concentration of PAHs
in sandhoppers and beachfleas living on supralittoral soft and hard substrata.
Materials and methods – Adult individuals of Talitrus saltator, Orchestia montagui,
Platorchestia platensis (Crustacea, Amphipoda), sand and stranded organic material
(mainly Posidonia oceanica) were collected during one summer (September 2008,
June 2009) and one winter season (early March 2009) in different localities (shores of
Tuscany, Elba Island and Corsica). T. saltator were collected at 12 localities, O.
montagui at 7 sites, while P. platensis at two localities. Samples were freezed,
dehydrated at 25° and then freeze-dried. The qualitative and quantitative determination
of the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the US EPA (United States
Environmental Protection Agency) priority pollutants list was performed using an
HPLC with UV (Waters® PDA 996) and fluorescence (Waters® 474 Scanning
Fluorescence Detector) detectors.
Results – The Fig. 1 shows the biota-sediment accumulation factor, BSAF
(BSAF=PAHs concentration in the animals/PAHs concentration in the substratum), of
the 16 PAHs divided per group of aromaticity in the three species of talitrid
Amphipods during the summer and winter period. T. saltator seems to accumulate
heavier compounds (penta- and hexa-aromatics) during the summer, while during the
winter BSAF results >1 (1,05) only for PAHs with 2 or 3 aromatic rings. In the
summer, the biota-sediment accumulation factor of O. montagui is >1 for tetra-, penta-
and hexa-aromatics PAHs, whilst in winter this beachflea accumulates only organic
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010
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