Topaz, Tom, Boxall, Alistair B A orcid.org/0000-0003-3823-7516, Suari, Yair et al. (3 more authors) (2020) The ecological risk dynamics of pharmaceuticals in micro-estuary environments. Environmental Science and Technology. ISSN 1520-5851
Abstract
Micro-estuarine ecosystems have a surface area < 1 km2 and are abundant in Mediterranean regions. As a result of their small size, these systems are particularly vulnerable to effects of chemical pollution. Due to fluctuating flow conditions of base-flow dominated by treated wastewater effluents and flood events transporting rural and urban non-point-source pollution, micro-estuaries are under a dynamic risk regime, consequently, struggling to provide ecological services. This two-year study explored the occurrence and risks of pharmaceutical contamination in the Alexander micro-estuary in Israel. Pharmaceuticals were detected in all samples (n=280) at as high as 18 µg L-1 in flood events and 14 µg L-1 in base-flow. Pharmaceutical mixtures composition was affected by flow conditions with carbamazepine dominating base-flow and caffeine dominating flood events. Median annual risk quotients for fish, crustaceans and algae were 19.6, 5.2, and 4.5, indicating that pharmaceuticals pose high risk to the ecosystem. Ibuprofen, carbamazepine and caffeine were contribute most to the risk quotients. The current work highlights that micro-estuary ecosystems, like the Alexander estuary, are continuously exposed to pharmaceuticals and most likely to other pollutants, placing these ecologically important systems under an elevated risk, in comparison to the more frequently studied large estuarine systems. .
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.v |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 24 Aug 2020 09:40 |
Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2025 00:09 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02434 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.est.0c02434 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164749 |
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Description: Tometal2020EnvironmentalScienceTechnology_Theecologicalriskdynamicsofpharmaceuticalsinmicro-estuaruenvironments