Integrated indicator framework and methodology for monitoring and assessment of hazardous substances and their effects in the marine environment
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Our seas and oceans are dynamic and variable. They represent a fundamental component of global ecosystems and, as such, we need to be able to assess the health status of the marine environment. Furthermore, we need to be able to detect anthropogenic induced changes in seas and oceans and to identify the reasons for these changes. It is only through such understanding that we can advise on necessary and appropriate remedial responses, such as regulatory action, as well as report on any improvements resulting from management measures. There is a need to express clearly what is meant by the “health” of the marine environment, and for that purpose, we require indicators of the health of ecosystem components, including indicator measurements for assessing the impacts of anthropogenic contaminants.
The marine environment receives inputs of hazardous substances through riverine discharges, direct (end of pipe) inputs, and atmospheric deposition and is the ultimate repository for complex mixtures of persistent chemicals. Consequently, organisms are exposed to a range of substances, many of which can cause metabolic disorders, an increase in disease prevalence, and, potentially, effects on populations through changes in growth, reproduction, or survival (e.g. Matthiessen and Gibbs, 1998, Hylland et al., 2006a, Moore et al., 2006). Through much of the history of marine pollution research and monitoring, chemical and biological field studies have often remained largely independent of each other. There are many publications describing the distribution of hazardous substances in the marine environment and, equally, many describing the perturbations of species or communities as a consequence of exposure to hazardous substances (e.g. Muir et al., 1999, Vos et al., 2000, Hylland et al., 2006b). However, it is now generally agreed that the assessment of environmental quality, and the design and monitoring of measures to improve environmental quality, are best undertaken on the basis of combinations of appropriate sets of chemical and biological measurements (Hylland, 2006, Thain et al., 2008, Lyons et al., 2010, Piva et al., 2011, Roose et al., 2011, Benedetti et al., 2012, Lehtonen et al., 2014). In the past, monitoring to assess the potential negative impact of hazardous substances has been based primarily on measurements of substance concentration. This was because the questions being asked concerned concentrations of such substances in water, sediment, and biota, and such measurements were possible for a specific set of relevant substances. However, in order to more fully assess the health of our maritime area, questions about the bioavailability of hazardous substances and their impact on marine organisms or processes are now being posed. Biological effect techniques have become increasingly important in the past few decades. Sometimes a biological response can be observed when the causative substance is below current chemical analytical detection limits; the development of imposex in gastropod molluscs as a result of low concentrations of tributyltin (TBT) being a point in case (e.g. Matthiessen and Gibbs, 1998, Antizar-Ladislao, 2008). However, biological responses may also occur as a result of low concentrations of several substances causing an additive or synergistic joint effect (e.g. McDowell et al., 1999, Silva et al., 2002, Pojana et al., 2007) or in the absence of identified causative compound (s) (e.g. Lyons et al., 2006).
Many strategies and approaches have been proposed to assess (marine) ecosystem health using ecological indicators (e.g. Rapport et al., 1998, EEA, 2001, Jorgensen et al., 2005, OSPAR, 2010a). Among them, there are different tools for biological effect (biomarkers and bioassays) data integration and interpretation with the aim to develop integrated effect-based indices for the quantification of effects of hazardous substances at several levels of biological organization (e.g. Moore et al., 2004, Broeg and Lehtonen, 2006; Dagnino et al., 2007, Viarengo et al., 2007, Piva et al., 2011, Marigómez et al., 2013). Consequently, biological-effect methods are important elements in environmental monitoring programmes, because they can indicate links between contaminants and ecological responses. Biological effect monitoring can thus be used to indicate the presence of substances, or combinations of substances, that had not been identified previously as being of concern, but also to identify regions of decreased environmental quality or reduced ecosystem health.
The pressure to clarify an integrated approach to assessing the impact of contaminants through both biological effects and chemical monitoring increased as a result of the requirement to achieve Good Environmental Status under Descriptor 8 (Concentrations of contaminants are at levels not giving rise to pollution effects) of the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, Directive 2008/56/EC). The Regional Sea Conventions (RSCs) in Europe have largely agreed on an ecosystem approach to manage the marine environment, under which the Conventions have committed themselves to monitor marine ecosystems in order to understand and assess interactions between, and impact of, human activities on marine organisms. Integrated monitoring and assessment of contaminants in the marine environment and their effects will contribute effectively to the integrated assessment of the full range of human impacts on the quality status of the marine environment, as part of the ecosystem approach.
This paper describes the integrated indicator framework and methodology for hazardous substances and their effects developed by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and OSPAR Commission. In addition, this paper serves as a background to the practical application of the framework for the ICON (Integrated assessment of contaminant impacts on the North Sea) project and other baseline studies in North East Atlantic waters (e.g. Giltrap et al., 2014; Lyons et al., 2017) and the West Mediterranean Sea (Martínez-Gómez et al., 2017). The guidelines are supported by associated background documents (Davies and Vethaak, 2012, OSPAR, 2013a), which provide information on the scientific background and assessment criteria to the contaminants and biological effects measurements included in the programme.
Section snippets
Current European strategies
The European Union (EU) has, over the last twenty years, developed its water policies so that now there is significant European legislation covering marine waters and the lakes and rivers that ultimately flow into our coastal ecosystems. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Directive 2000/06/EC) establishes a framework for community action in the field of water policy, central to which is a good ecological status for defined water bodies. This is described on the basis of biological quality,
Integrated monitoring of contaminants and their effects
The contribution made by an integrated programme involving both chemical and biological effects measurements is primarily that the combination of the different measurements increases the interpretive value of the individual measurements and thus delivers an improved assessment of status. For example, biological effects measurements assist the assessment of the significance of measured concentrations of contaminants in biota or sediments, and can include an assessment of the impact of concurrent
The need for assessment criteria
It is not sufficient simply to coordinate sampling; integration must also involve a combined assessment of the monitored parameters, which must themselves be selected with the assessment aim in mind. Such a combined assessment may involve using environmental and biological parameters as covariates in statistical analyses or they may be used to standardize effect variables (e.g. temperature, seasonal, gender or size/age effects on biomarker responses). Similarly, normalization procedures for the
Applicability of integrated indicator framework for OSPAR maritime areas
Among the Regional Sea Convention programmes, OSPAR has a well-established monitoring framework with agreed monitoring programmes and associated chemical and biological assessment criteria to focus on those determinands which will complement relevant activities made in other frameworks (EU WFD (Directive 2000/60/EC; EU MSFD (Directive 2008/56/EC) (OSPAR, 2010a, OSPAR, 2010b, OSPAR, 2010c). The OSPAR Hazardous Substances Strategy (OSPAR Agreement 2003–2021; OSPAR, 2010a, OSPAR, 2010b, OSPAR,
Conclusions and perspectives
This paper provides the scientific basis for a framework for integrated chemical and biological effects monitoring and assessment in the marine environment. The framework comprises a core set of biological effect techniques developed by ICES and included or recommended in the OSPAR monitoring programmes that can be used in an integrated manner together with chemical contaminant measurements in biota, sediments and water across OSPAR maritime areas (OSPAR Agreement 2012-09). It further comprises
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