Estuarine characteristics, water quality and heavy metal contamination as determinants of fish species composition in intermittently open estuaries

Abstract

Estuaries are critical aquatic environments that are used by many fish during their life cycle. However, estuaries often suffer from poor water quality as a result of anthropogenic activities. Fish diversity studies in estuaries are common, although few have examined whether correlations exist between water quality, metal contamination and fish assemblages. In the present study we investigated the effect of abiotic conditions, heavy metals and estuary characteristics on the abundance, diversity and composition of fish in four intermittently open estuaries along the Illawarra coast of south-eastern Australia. The heterogeneity of environmental conditions was reflected in the fish assemblages in each estuary. Environmental variables predicted fish species composition, and estuaries in particularly poor condition contained few species (estuarine residents) in high abundance, indicating their ability to acclimatise and survive in conditions that are hostile to other species. Overall, these findings demonstrate that estuarine fish assemblages may be useful indicators of estuary condition and reveal the importance of managing anthropogenic activities in the surrounding catchment to improve water quality so that biodiversity of fish can be restored in these estuarine environments.

Uptake and accumulation of cadmium, manganese and zinc by fisheries species: Trophic differences in sensitivity to environmental metal accumulation

“…Trace metals such as cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) originate from a variety of sources including industrial production, and agricultural and urban pollution, making them serial pollutants in rivers and estuaries, including those on the East Australian coastline (Brown and Peake, 2006;Moss and Constanza, 1998;O'Mara et al, 2017). To study the sources of accumulation of these metals in a simplified food chain using fisheries species, a radiotracer experiment was used.…”

Heavy metal pollution in the Yongjiang Estuary, China and their relations to environmental factors

“…These serious environmental pollution events have awakened people's awareness of environmental protection (Mubiana et al, 2005). In recent years, with the continuous development of the coastal estuary in China, the problem of heavy metal pollution has become increasingly prominent (Liu et al, 2020;O'Mara et al, 2016). The main sources of heavy metals in the estuary were the discharge of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater and the use of pesticides and fertilizers (Masson et al, 2006).…”

Water Pollution Characteristics and Water Quality Evaluation of Oujiang Estuary (2014-2018)

“…The estuarine waters that link the continent to the sea are one of the most active areas of human activity and one of the most important economic zones in the world [1][2][3]. The ecology of estuarine waters is influenced by both the continent and the sea and is vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances, making it very sensitive and fragile [4][5].…”