Department of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Urbino, 61029 Urbino, Italy.
MARUM, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2018 Apr;129(2):512-524. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.022. Epub 2017 Oct 14.
Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic element for living organisms and is known to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Here, we analyze the response of benthic foraminifera communities cultured in mesocosm and exposed to different concentrations of Hg. Standard morphological analyses and environmental DNA metabarcoding show evidence that Hg pollution has detrimental effects on benthic foraminifera. The molecular analysis provides a more complete view of foraminiferal communities including the soft-walled single-chambered monothalamiids and small-sized hard-shelled rotaliids and textulariids than the morphological one. Among these taxa that are typically overlooked in morphological studies we found potential bioindicators of Hg pollution. The mesocosm approach proves to be an effective method to study benthic foraminiferal responses to various types and concentrations of pollutants over time. This study further supports foraminiferal metabarcoding as a complementary and/or alternative method to standard biomonitoring program based on the morphological identification of species communities.
汞 (Hg) 对生物体具有高度毒性，已知其具有生物积累和生物放大作用。在这里，我们分析了在中观系统中培养并暴露于不同浓度汞的底栖有孔虫群落的反应。标准形态分析和环境 DNA 代谢组学表明，汞污染对底栖有孔虫具有有害影响。分子分析比形态分析提供了对有孔虫群落更完整的了解，包括软壁单室单壳类和小尺寸硬壳类旋卷虫类和织纹虫类。在这些在形态学研究中通常被忽视的分类群中，我们发现了潜在的汞污染生物标志物。中观系统方法被证明是一种有效的方法，可以随着时间的推移研究底栖有孔虫对各种类型和浓度污染物的反应。这项研究进一步支持有孔虫代谢组学作为基于物种群落形态鉴定的标准生物监测计划的补充和/或替代方法。
