Croquer Aldo, Bone David, Bastidas Carolina, Ramos Ruth, García Elia
Departamento de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela; Departamento de Biologiía de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela.
Departamento de Biologiía de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela; Centro de Estudios Ecotoxicológicos en Sistemas Marinos (CETOXMAR), Caracas, Venezuela.
PeerJ. 2016 Jun 23;4:e2171. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2171. eCollection 2016.
This study evaluated pollution levels in water and sediments of Península de Paraguaná and related these levels with benthic macrofauna along a coastal area where the largest Venezuelan oil refineries have operated over the past 60 years. For this, the concentration of heavy metals, of hydrocarbon compounds and the community structure of the macrobenthos were examined at 20 sites distributed along 40 km of coastline for six consecutive years, which included windy and calm seasons. The spatial variability of organic and inorganic compounds showed considerably high coastal pollution along the study area, across both years and seasons. The southern sites, closest to the refineries, had consistently higher concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds in water and sediments when compared to those in the north. The benthic community was dominated by polychaetes at all sites, seasons and years, and their abundance and distribution were significantly correlated with physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments. Sites close to the oil refineries were consistently dominated by families known to tolerate xenobiotics, such as Capitellidae and Spionidae. The results from this study highlight the importance of continuing long-term environmental monitoring programs to assess the impact of effluent discharge and spill events from the oil refineries that operate in the western coast of Paraguaná, Venezuela.
本研究评估了巴拉瓜纳半岛水和沉积物中的污染水平，并将这些水平与沿一个沿海区域的底栖大型动物群相关联，在过去60年里，委内瑞拉最大的炼油厂在该沿海区域运营。为此，连续六年在沿40公里海岸线分布的20个地点检测了重金属、碳氢化合物的浓度以及大型底栖动物的群落结构，其中包括有风季节和平静季节。有机和无机化合物的空间变异性表明，在整个研究区域，无论年份和季节，沿海污染程度都相当高。与北部相比，最靠近炼油厂的南部地点的水和沉积物中的重金属和有机化合物浓度一直较高。在所有地点、季节和年份，底栖动物群落均以多毛类为主，其丰度和分布与沉积物的物理和化学特征显著相关。靠近炼油厂的地点一直以已知能耐受异生素的科为主，如 Capitellidae科和 Spionidae科。本研究结果凸显了持续开展长期环境监测计划的重要性，以评估委内瑞拉巴拉瓜纳西海岸运营的炼油厂废水排放和泄漏事件的影响。
