| Title: | Short and long-term effects of low-sulphur fuels on marine zooplankton communities |
| Address: | "University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Box 461, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: christina.jonander@bioenv.gu.se. University of Gothenburg, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Box 461, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: ingela.dahllof@bioenv.gu.se" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.aquatox.2020.105592 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1514 (Electronic) 0166-445X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "International shipping is responsible for the release of numerous contaminants to the air and the marine environment. In order to reduce airborne emissions, a global 0.5 % sulphur limit for marine fuels was implemented in January 2020. Recently, a new generation of so-called hybrid fuels that meet these new requirements have appeared on the market. Studies have shown that these fuels have physical properties that make conventional clean-up methods difficult, but few have studied their effects on marine life. We conducted short and long-term microcosm experiments with natural mesozooplankton communities exposed to the water accommodated fractions (WAFs) of the hybrid fuel RMD80 (0.1 % sulphur) and a Marine Gas Oil (MGO). We compared the toxicity of both fuel types in 48h short-term exposures, and studied the effects of the hybrid fuel on community structure over two generations in a 28-day experiment. The F0 generation was exposed for eight days and the F1 generation was raised for 22 days without exposure. GC-MS and GC-FID analysis of the WAFs revealed that the hybrid fuel was dominated by a mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), whereas the MGO was mainly composed of VOCs. We observed significant short-term effects on copepod egg production from exposure to 25 % hybrid fuel WAF, but no effects from the MGO WAF at equivalent WAF dilution. In the long-term experiment with RMD80, the feeding rate was initially increased after exposure to 0.5-1.1 % hybrid fuel WAF, but this did not increase the copepod egg production. Significant change in community structure was observed after eight days in the F0 community at 0.5-3.3 % WAF. Indications of further alterations in species abundances was observed in the F1 community. Our results demonstrate that the MGO is a less toxic low-sulphur alternative to the hybrid fuel for marine zooplankton, and that a hybrid fuel spill could result in altered diversity of future generations of copepod communities" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Copepoda/*drug effects/physiology Dose-Response Relationship, Drug Fuel Oils/analysis/*toxicity Hydrocarbons, Aromatic/chemistry/*toxicity Models, Theoretical Reproduction/drug effects Ships Sulfur/chemistry/*toxicity Time Factors Water Pollutants;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineJonander, Christina Dahllof, Ingela eng Netherlands 2020/09/06 Aquat Toxicol. 2020 Oct; 227:105592. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2020.105592. Epub 2020 Aug 12" |
