| Citation: |
Jing-yi Cong, Hai-yan Long, Yong Zhang, Nan Wang, 2022. Ecological environment response of benthic foraminifera to heavy metals and human engineering: A case study from Jiaozhou Bay, China, China Geology, 5, 12-25. doi: 10.31035/cg2021040
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Ecological environment response of benthic foraminifera to heavy metals and human engineering: A case study from Jiaozhou Bay, China
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Abstract
The estuary and coastal zone are the key areas for socio-economic development, and they are also the important channels for pollutants transported to the sea. The construction of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge changed the hydrodynamic condition of the bay, which made the self-purification capacity of the bay weakened and the pollution in the estuary and adjacent coastal zone become more serious. In this study, 55 surface sediment samples were collected from the three seriously polluted estuaries and the adjacent coastal zone of Jiaozhou Bay to comprehensively study how the benthic foraminifera response to heavy metal pollution and human engineering, and to assess the ecological risks of the bay. A total of 80 species, belonging to 42 genera, were identified in this study. The results showed that Cu, Pb, Cr, Hg, Zn, and As had low to median ecological risks in the study area which would definitely affect the ecological system. The construction of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge has resulted in pollutants accumulated at the river mouth of Loushan River, which has adverse effects on the survival and growth of benthic foraminifera. The lowest population density and diversity as well as the highest FAI (Foraminiferal Abnormality Index) and FMI (Foraminiferal Monitoring Index) occurred at Loushan River Estuary which indicated that the ecological environment of the northeastern part of Jiaozhou Bay (Loushan River Estuary) had been seriously damaged. Licun River and Haipo River estuaries and the adjacent coastal zone were slightly polluted and had low ecological risk. As a consequence, it suggested that the supervision of industrial and domestic waste discharge and the protection of the ecological environment in northeast Jiaozhou Bay should be paid more attention.
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References
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Jing-yi Cong, Hai-yan Long, Yong Zhang, Nan Wang, 2022. Ecological environment response of benthic foraminifera to heavy metals and human engineering: A case study from Jiaozhou Bay, China, China Geology, 5, 12-25. doi: 10.31035/cg2021040
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Figure 1.
(a) Map showing the location of the study area; (b) map showing the water depth of the study area with sampling stations. The locations of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and the Cangkou Waterway are also showed on this map.
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Figure 2.
a‒Pictures of the lower reaches of the Loushan River (cited from
http://house.qingdaonews.com/news/2015-04/30/content_11035286_all.htm ); b‒sewage outfall of Qingdao Alkali Industry Co. LTD (cited fromhttp://ocean.qingdao.gov.cn/n12479801/index.html ); c‒sewage outfall of Haipo River Estuary; d‒Licun River Estuary. -
Figure 3.
Map showing the distribution of abundance (a), S (b), H (c), FAI (d), FMI (e) of foraminifera.
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Figure 4.
SEM photomicrographs of benthic foraminifera bearing different morphological abnormalities: 1‒3‒Quinqueloculina bellatula; 4‒6‒Ammonia beccarii; 7‒11‒Elphidium magellanicum; 12‒15‒Buccella frigida; 16‒Elphidium advenum; 17, 18‒Hanzawa sp.; 19‒Ammonia compressiuscula; 20‒Trochammina inflata (all the scale bar=50 μm); 21‒gastropod (as a contrast). 2, 3‒distorted chamber arrangement or change in coiling; 5‒reduced chamber size; 7‒complexity; 1, 4, 6, 10, 12‒15, 19‒aberrant chamber shape and size; 8, 16‒abnormally additional chamber; 9, 17, 18, 20‒distorted chamber arrangement or change in coiling and aberrant chamber shape and size; 11‒spiroconvex.
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Figure 5.
Map showing the distribution of Cu (a), Pb (b), Zn (c), Cr (d), Cd (e), As (f), Hg (g), pH (h), and TOC (i) of the Jiaozhou Bay, China.
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Figure 6.
Distribution of suspended sediment concentrations in Jiaozhou Bay during different periods. a–beginning of the flood tide for spring tides; b–maximum flood tide for spring tides; c–high tide for spring tides; d–beginning of the ebb tide for spring tides; e–maximum ebb tide for spring tides; f–low tide for spring tides; g–maximum flood tide for neap tides; h–maximum ebb tide for neap tides (cited from Zhang Y et al., 2019).
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Figure 7.
Distribution of depth, abundance, and species of Loushan River Estuary, Licun River Estuary, and Haipo River Estuary. The three scatter plots above represent the correlation of depth and abundance of the three estuaries.
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Figure 8.
Heat map of the relative abundance of each species (rows) in each sample (columns). Dendrogram classification of sampling sites produced by Hierarchical clustering method using Euclidean distance.
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Figure 9.
Distribution of the relative abundance of the deformities.