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Industrial wastewater and agricultural practices are among the main activities discharging organic pollutants, such as Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and organochlorine insecticides (e.g. DDT - dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), to the environment. In this study, we used the native Cichlidae fish species Geophagus brasiliensis as a sentinel to evaluate the hepatic 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase EROD activity, a biomarker of exposure to CYP1A-inducing pollutants, to assess the bioavailability of xenobiotics in two reaches of a large lotic system in Southeast Brazil: a less disturbed area (site 1) in the upper stretch, and an area in the middle stretch, which receives various industrial and agricultural effluents from upstream cities (site 2). In addition, G. brasiliensis were exposed to a single dose of 50 mg kg-1 betanaphthoflavone (BNF) or of 50 mg kg-1 dimethylbenzoanthracene (DMBA) to test the effects on, respectively, the hepatic EROD activity in S9 supernatant fraction, and the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes three days after the i.p. treatments, and compared to an unexposed group, to test its potential as a sentinel for biomonitoring studies. The EROD activity was approximately two-fold higher in fish from the impacted stretches than in fish from the less disturbed stretches (p < 0.05). Micronuclei (MN) frequency was also significantly different (p < 0.01) in DMBA-treated fish. The induced EROD activity in the impacted site suggests that organochlorinated pollutants are reaching the biota of the Paraíba do Sul River, confirming the suitability of Geophagus brasiliensis as a useful sentinel species to detect changes caused by xenobiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muscles, gonads, and liver tissues of fish caught in Sepetiba and Ilha Grande Bay were analyzed to assess levels of heavy metal concentrations of Cd, Fe, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cu, and Cr. Levels of Cr surpassed the maximum permissible concentration in muscle, followed by Zn in some species. Pb, Cu, and Cd presented concentrations above maximum permissible levels in gonads and liver only. Fe presented concentrations in viscera comparable to those of highly polluted areas, although there are no standards available for this metal. Ni was the only metal that did not present contamination in the fish tissues examined. Overall, fish caught in Sepetiba Bay showed higher metal concentrations than those from Ilha Grande Bay, but the latter also presented high metal concentrations in several samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Variations in the relative importance of autotrophic sources to aquatic consumers along environmental gradients and the trophic role of mangrove-derived detritus to marine coastal food webs are still poorly investigated in tropical systems. In this study, we employed stable isotope analyses to investigate the relative importance of basal food sources to macroconsumers (decapod crustaceans and fishes) in a tropical estuary along an environmental gradient extending from the mangroves to the ocean. Additionally, we evaluated the ‘outwelling hypothesis’, which hypothesizes that mangrove-derived detritus exported to the adjacent marine area is a food source for marine macroconsumers at open and reef-protected sandy beaches. Primary producers and macroconsumers (62 and 214 samples, respectively) were collected at five locations across the main longitudinal axis of the Mamanguape estuary, a tropical Southwestern Atlantic estuary. There were marked shifts in carbon and nitrogen isotope values for both food sources and consumers along the estuarine-marine gradient, and the mixing model results revealed similar patterns of assimilation of basal food sources by decapod crustaceans and fishes. In the inner section of the estuary, consumers tended to assimilated nutrients derived mainly from mangrove and macroalgae, whereas nearer the mouth of the estuary and in the adjacent marine area they assimilated nutrients derived mainly from macroalgae, seagrass and organic matter in the sediment (SOM). These findings support the hypothesis that the relative importance of basal food sources to macroconsumers in this tropical estuarine system reflects the dominant autochthonous primary production at each location. In contrast, our results did not support the outwelling hypothesis that mangrove-originated detritus, in the form of senescent mangrove leaves, makes a significant contribution as a primary source of carbon to high-order consumers inhabiting adjacent ocean sandy beaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fish communities and habitat structures were evaluated by underwater visual censuses a rocky location impacted by thermal discharge (I) and at two control locations, one in a Sargassum bed (C1) and the other in a rocky shore with higher structural complexity (C2). Habitat indicators and fish communities exhibited significant differences between the impacted and control locations, with the impacted one showing a significant decrease in fish species richness and diversity, as well as a decrease in benthic cover. At the I location, only 13 fish species were described, and the average water temperature was 32±0.4°C, compared with 44 species at C1 (25.9±0.3°C) and 33 species at C2 (24.6±0.2°C). Significant differences in fish communities among locations were found by ANOSIM with Eucinostomus argenteus, Mugil sp. and Haemulon steindachneri typical of location I, while Abudefduf saxatilis, Stegastes fuscus and Malacoctenus delalandi were typical of the control locations. Our study shows that thermal pollution alters benthic cover and influences fish assemblages by altering composition and decreasing richness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The spatial structure of the fish diversity and site-scale and landscape-scale environmental effects were investigated across hierarchical levels in tropical coastal ecosystems. Total diversity (γ) was hierarchically partitioned into α and β components using both the additive and multiplicative methods. A model selection based on the AICc was applied to generalized linear mixed models relating diversity measures to environmental variables and including random effects for hierarchical levels and season. Short-term seasonal effects were negligible. Spatial effects were more relevant at the site level and negligible at the subregion level, due to the high spatial heterogeneity and the natural pooling of ecosystems, respectively. Site-scale environmental effects were more relevant at the subregion level, with eutrophic conditions (continental influence) favoring the species richness (α and γ) and higher absence of species (βA) in oligotrophic conditions (marine influence). At the system level, the positive effect of the distance from the ocean on γ and higher βA in oligotrophic conditions reinforced the positive continental influence on fish diversity. Environmental homogenization processes were most likely associated with the negative effect of the pasture cover on α at the system level, and γ and βA at the site level. The negative effect of the forest cover on the later diversity measure evidenced its relevance to maintain richer but more similar assemblages, whereas the positive continental influence was most likely due to the loss of stenohaline marine species. This study evidenced that disentangling spatial, land use, and marine vs. continental effects on diversity components is critical to understand the primary determinants of the fish diversity in tropical coastal ecosystems. • Spatial and environmental effects were critical for coastal fish diversity. • At the site level, diversity was primarily associated with land use effects. • Multi-scale continental influences affected positively fish diversity within systems. • Diversity was primarily driven by site-scale environmental effects within sub-regions. • The α and additive β components were the major determinants of changes on γ diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]