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In this study the role of plastic debris as a pollution vector has been evaluated by determining the concentrations of hydrophobic organic contaminants in polymers from three Western Mediterranean coastal areas as well as their potential transfer to seawater. Plastic debris was sampled at three Iberian Peninsula Southeastern beaches, each affected by different predominant anthropogenic activities (tourism, agriculture, urban activities, transport and industry). Plastic debris was characterized by attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry. The organic contaminants were extracted from plastics by ultrasonic extraction with methanol and quantified by stir bar sorptive extraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In two areas, the desorption of these contaminants from plastic debris to seawater during 24 h was also evaluated. The contaminant groups considered in this study (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), personal care products (PCPs), current use pesticides (CUPs), organochlorinated compounds (OCPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorinated pesticides) and plastic additives were found in polymers from the three areas. The most abundant contaminants were plastic additives and PCPs, underlining the relevance of the leaching of plastic components, and urban and tourism activities as typical pollution sources in the coastal areas. In general, large piece-to-piece variability was found for all polymers and areas mainly as a consequence of their different origin, exposition time, use and surface-to-volume ratio. This fact difficulted the visualization of significant differences between polymers or areas, but for CUPs, whose concentrations were significantly higher in Cape Cope than in the other areas due to the influence of close agricultural activities. PCPs and CUPs were desorbed partially in seawater for 24 h, particularly the most hydrophilic compounds such as triazines and other CUPs. However, a significant fraction of other contaminants (mainly PAHs) was retained, which suggests they can be transported far away from their origin., Sí

Informe de Evaluación del estado del Medio Marino y definición del GES en la Demarcación Levantina-Balear en relación al Descriptor 8, Evaluación y seguimiento de la contaminación en las demarcaciones mediterráneas:Estrategias Marinas y Convención de Barcelona., ESMARES2C5A2

En prensa

CTUALIZACIÓN DEL DESCRIPTOR 8 CONTAMINANTES Y SUS EFECTOS EVALUACIÓN INICIAL Y BUEN ESTADO AMBIENTAL EN LA DEMARCACIÓN DEL ESTRECHO Y ALBORÁN, Financiado por la Dirección General deSostenibilidad de la Costa y el Mar (MAGRAMA)

The MarMenor is a coastal lagoon affected by the growth of intensive agriculture and urban development in the surrounding area. Large amounts of chemical pollutants fromthese areas are discharged into El Albujón, a permanent water-course flowing into the lagoon. Biomarkers such as the activity of acetylcholinesterase or antioxidant enzymes have been previously tested in this lagoon demonstrating the presence of neurotoxicity and oxidative stress in clams transplanted in sites affected by the dispersion of the effluent from El Albujón. To complete this traditional toxicology work, a metabolomic profiling of these transplanted organisms has been carried out for the detection of metabolic biomarkers induced by agricultural/urban pollutants. More than 70 metabolites have been quantified using a targeting metabolomics platform based on HPLC–MS. The intracellular metabolic pattern was analyzed by PCA from the digestive gland of clams after 7 and 22 days of transplantation. Results showed a different profile of metabolite between organisms collected from control and exposed sites. At the shorter exposure time, there was an increase in several metabolites in the latter when compared with those from control sites, whereas metabolic profiling at 22 days showed that those metabolites were drastically diminished, with even lower levels than at control sites. These metabolites included: (i) 12 amino acids from the 21 proteogenic and HomoSer, (ii) osmotic protectants such as γ-butyrobetaine and taurine and (iii) nucleotides such as ITP. Regarding sulfur-containing molecules, taurine could be highlighted as a potential biomarker since its concentration was reduced by more than 30 times after 22 days of exposure, whereas the antioxidant glutathione remained constant in the organisms from both control and exposed sites. Although targetedmetabolomics has been shown as an early technique of pollutant effect detection, the two-phase pattern could highlight a more complicated metabolite response to pollutants than classical biomarkers., SI

Se han desarrollado métodos de análisis específicos para el alquilbenceno lineal sulfonato y sus intermedios de degradación en agua y sedimentos marinos. Se ha caracterizado su distribución, reactividad y mecanismos de transporte en sistemas litorales de la península Ibérica., Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el proyecto: “Priority surfactants and their toxic metabolites in waste effluents discharges: an integrate study” financiado por la Unión Europea (UE/ENV4-CT97-0494)