Which commonly monitored chemical contaminant in the Bohai region and the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers of China poses the greatest threat to aquatic wildlife?

Johnson, Andrew C and Jürgens, Monika D and Su, Chao and Zhang, Meng and Zhang, Yueqing and Shi, Yajuan and Sweetman, Andrew and Jin, Xiaowei and Lu, Yonglong (2018) Which commonly monitored chemical contaminant in the Bohai region and the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers of China poses the greatest threat to aquatic wildlife? Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 37 (4). pp. 1115-1121. ISSN 0730-7268

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Abstract

The present study assessed the relative risk of 29 chemical contaminants to aquatic wildlife in the Bohai region and the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers of China. River monitoring data from 2010 to 2015 for metals, pesticides, plasticizers, surfactants, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, and ammonia were collected. For each chemical, ecotoxicity data were compiled for Chinese-relevant aquatic species. The chemicals were ranked by relative risk either by comparing the ratios of the median river concentration divided by the median ecotoxicity concentration or by the percentage of river measurements which exceeded the lower 10th percentile ecotoxicity value. To provide context, these results were compared with the same analysis for rivers in the United Kingdom. From this collection of chemicals in Chinese rivers, the highest risks appear to be from Cu, closely followed by Zn, Fe, and Ni together with linear alkyl benzene sulfonate, nonylphenol, and NH3 . This risk, particularly from the metals, can be several times higher than that experienced in UK rivers when using the same analysis. Ammonia median concentrations were notably higher in the Pearl and Yangtze than in UK rivers. The results suggest that China should focus on controlling metal contamination to protect its aquatic wildlife. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:1115-1121. © 2017 SETAC.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Additional Information:
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Johnson, A. C., Jürgens, M. D., Su, C. , Zhang, M. , Zhang, Y. , Shi, Y. , Sweetman, A. , Jin, X. and Lu, Y. (2018), Which commonly monitored chemical contaminant in the Bohai region and the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers of China poses the greatest threat to aquatic wildlife?. Environ Toxicol Chem, 37: 1115-1121. doi:10.1002/etc.4042 which has been published in final form at https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/etc.4042 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304
Subjects:
?? risk ecotoxicology metal pesticideammonia chinaenvironmental chemistryhealth, toxicology and mutagenesis ??
ID Code:
125065
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
10 May 2018 08:34
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
26 Aug 2024 23:54