Haikou Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, State Oceanic Administration, Haikou 570000, Hainan, China.
Key Laboratory of Agro-Forestry Environmental Processes and Ecological Regulation of Hainan Province (Hainan University), Haikou 570228, China; College of Ecology and Environment, Hainan University, Haikou City, 570100, P.R China.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Jan;174:113278. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113278. Epub 2022 Jan 4.
Human activities have changed the global concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and significantly altered the marine ecosystem. Little is known about the concentrations of these PTEs around Hainan Island in China, or their distribution and human health risks. Understanding the variability of PTEs in marine sediments and how they accumulate is important not only for biodiversity and ecological conservation, but also for management of aquatic natural resources and human health risk assessments. This study showed that the concentrations of six PTEs (Cd, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, and Hg), sampled in nine different cities, were linked to human activities. In order to understand the ecological risks associated with PTE pollution, we calculated the contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF), pollution load index (PLI), and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) of each element in each city. These indicators suggest that the pollution of Cd and Zn in the sediments of these cities is higher than that of the other PTEs. We also carried out a human health risk assessment which demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of Zn on children and adults in ChengMai, while Pb showed non-carcinogenic effects at all the studied sites, suggesting that Zn pollution in the sediments of ChengMai may pose human health risks. We would therefore advise that follow-up studies endeavor to monitor the levels of PTEs in the flora and fauna of these cities.
人类活动改变了全球潜在有毒元素（PTEs）的浓度，并显著改变了海洋生态系统。关于中国海南岛周围这些 PTEs 的浓度、分布及其对人类健康的风险，人们知之甚少。了解海洋沉积物中 PTEs 的变异性及其积累方式，不仅对生物多样性和生态保护很重要，而且对水生自然资源的管理和人类健康风险评估也很重要。本研究表明，在九个不同城市采集的六种 PTEs（Cd、Cu、Zn、As、Pb 和 Hg）的浓度与人类活动有关。为了了解与 PTE 污染相关的生态风险，我们计算了每个城市中每个元素的污染系数（CF）、富集系数（EF）、污染负荷指数（PLI）和地积累指数（Igeo）。这些指标表明，这些城市沉积物中 Cd 和 Zn 的污染比其他 PTEs 更高。我们还进行了人类健康风险评估，结果表明 Zn 对程迈市儿童和成人具有致癌作用，而 Pb 在所有研究地点均表现出非致癌作用，这表明程迈市沉积物中的 Zn 污染可能对人类健康构成风险。因此，我们建议后续研究努力监测这些城市动植物中的 PTEs 水平。
