Benítez Ángel, Torres Samuel, Morocho Ramiro, Carrillo Washington, Donoso David A, Calva James
BIETROP, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano s/n, Loja 1101608, Ecuador.
Maestría en Biología de la Conservación y Ecología Tropical, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano s/n, Loja 1101608, Ecuador.
Plants (Basel). 2020 Jul 31;9(8):974. doi: 10.3390/plants9080974.
Water contamination is a major environmental problem in many cities of the world. Most water contamination results from industry and human activities that generate toxic substances (e.g., metals). Rheophilic and aquatic mosses are found in lotic ecosystems, and their morphological and physiological traits are responsive to ecological and pollution gradients. Here we hypothesized that the native rheophilic moss (A. Jaeger) M. Fleisch exposed to polluted waters can bioaccumulate greater amounts of metals, and a metalloid, than exposed to pollution-free water. To this aim, we tested the bioindicator capacity of the aquatic for 15 metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, K, Ca, Na, Mn, V, Co, Ba, Cr, Al, Sr, and Mg) and one metalloid (As), in twelve river samples coming from three urban and one control zone along the Zamora river in the city of Loja. When compared to the control, our results showed that in the Southern, Central, and Northern zones of the city bioaccumulated higher concentrations of Ba, Cd, Co, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Sr, Zn, and the metalloid As. On the other hand, concentrations of Al, Ca, Cr, Pb, and V in tended to be lower in the control zone, but these differences were not significant. We suggest that the presence of these contaminants may be related to water pollution (e.g., residual discharges and a lack of treatment systems) along urban zones of the river. We report for the first time the utility of as a model species for development of long-term biomonitoring programs of water contamination in South America. Passive biomonitoring with can be a simple and low-cost method to obtain reliable data of the current state of water contamination with metals and metalloids in tropical regions.
水污染是世界上许多城市面临的一个主要环境问题。大多数水污染源于工业和人类活动所产生的有毒物质（如金属）。喜流性和水生苔藓生长在流水生态系统中，其形态和生理特征对生态和污染梯度有响应。在这里，我们假设暴露于污染水体中的本地喜流性苔藓（A. Jaeger）M. Fleisch比暴露于无污染水体中能生物累积更多的金属和一种类金属。为了实现这一目标，我们在来自洛哈市萨莫拉河三个城市区域和一个对照区域的12个河流样本中，测试了这种水生苔藓对15种金属（镉、铅、锌、铁、钾、钙、钠、锰、钒、钴、钡、铬、铝、锶和镁）和一种类金属（砷）的生物指示能力。与对照相比，我们的结果表明，在该市的南部、中部和北部区域，这种苔藓生物累积了更高浓度的钡、镉、钴、铁、镁、锰、钠、锶、锌和类金属砷。另一方面，对照区域中这种苔藓体内的铝、钙、铬、铅和钒的浓度往往较低，但这些差异并不显著。我们认为这些污染物的存在可能与河流城市区域的水污染（如残留排放和缺乏处理系统）有关。我们首次报告了这种苔藓作为南美洲水污染长期生物监测计划开发的模式物种的实用性。用这种苔藓进行被动生物监测可以是一种简单且低成本的方法，以获取热带地区金属和类金属水污染现状的可靠数据。
