University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Valery Forbes Publications Papers in the Biological Sciences 2009 The amphipod Orchomenella pinguis — A potential bioindicator for contamination in the Arctic Lis Bach Aarhus University, [email protected] Valery E. Forbes University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Ingela Dahllöf Aarhus University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciforbes Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Other Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, and the Toxicology Commons Bach, Lis; Forbes, Valery E.; and Dahllöf, Ingela, "The amphipod Orchomenella pinguis — A potential bioindicator for contamination in the Arctic" (2009). Valery Forbes Publications. 47. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciforbes/47 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Valery Forbes Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in Marine Pollution Bulletin 58:11 (November 2009), pp. 1664–1670; doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.07.001 Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission. The amphipod Orchomenella pinguis — A potential bioindicator for contamination in the Arctic Lis Bach,1,2 Valery E. Forbes,2 and Ingela Dahllöf 1 1. Department of Marine Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark 2. Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, Roskilde University, Universitetsvej 1, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark Corresponding author — L. Bach, email [email protected] , [email protected] Abstract Indigenous organisms can be used as bioindicators for effects of contaminants, but no such bioindicator has been estab- lished for Arctic areas. Orchomenella pinguis is a benthic amphipod, ubiquitous in the Arctic and can be found in high numbers. We collected O. pinguis at sites with different contamination levels. Population characteristics (body length dis- tribution, average dry weight and amphipod organic content) were related to sediment contaminant concentrations, in order to identify suitable endpoints for using this species as a bioindicator. We show that O. pinguis was prevalent in both clean and contaminated areas, easy to sample and that its population characteristics could be linked to both contamina- tion and sediment organic content. We suggest that O. pinguis is a suitable bioindicator for the Arctic, but that endpoints such as reproductive effects and phenotypic and genotypic responses are needed together with population characteristics to assess impacts of contamination. Keywords: field study, benthic amphipod, contaminated sediment, Greenland, multivariate statistics 1. Introduction and export is therefore highly dependent on the protection of the local marine environment. Bioindicators are used to assess effects of contaminants in the One way to assess effects of contamination is through the use environment in monitoring programmes around the world. of indicator organisms, which are any biological species or group However, there is no established bioindicator of effects for Arc- of species whose function, population or status can be used to tic marine areas, although the Arctic ecosystem has been sug- determine the state of the ecosystem of which they are a part gested to be more vulnerable to contaminants than temperate (Adams, 2005). For organisms to be valuable bioindicators it has ones since a disturbance of one species may cascade more eas- been suggested that they occupy important trophic positions or ily through the food web due to the lower biodiversity and less niches, are keystone species, or contribute significantly to the complex food webs with fewer trophic levels (Chapman and Rid- biomass and energy flow in the system (Adams, 2005). Further- dle, 2005). more they should be easy to sample, stationary, have a short gen- It has furthermore been demonstrated that contaminants eration time, low rate of dispersal and be reasonably tolerant to are deposited in the Arctic through long-range transport (Lock- biotic changes and contamination (Thomas, 1993). hart, 1995; Riget et al., 2004), and during the last 50 years there A potential indicator organism for Arctic marine environ- has been a structural change in Greenland, leading to a central- ments is the small benthic amphipod Orchomenella pinguis ized consumer and industrial society resulting in a larger and (Boeck), Lysiannasidae, Gammaridea. In the Arctic food web O. more concentrated discharge of contaminants. An increasing pinguis constitutes an important group as a scavenger and forms number of studies has examined possible impacts of such con- a major link to the pelagic system as a component of prey items taminants on Arctic marine organisms from laboratory studies for fish, birds and benthic-feeding mammals such as seals (Con- (e.g., Olsen et al., 2007; Petersen and Dahllof, 2007; Camus and lan, 1994). In general, amphipods conform to the criteria of be- Olsen, 2008; Petersen et al., 2008), but only few field studies on ing relatively sedentary, highly abundant, have a relatively high effects in the Arctic marine environment have been published stress threshold (Duquesne et al., 2000) and have long been (Jorgensen et al., 2006, 2008). applied as sensitive environmental bioindicators (Thomas, Greenland, as most Arctic areas, is highly reliant on ma- 1993). O. pinguis has been shown to be more or less ubiqui- rine ecosystem services given that a large part of the population tous within the Arctic ( Horner and Murphy, 1985; Sainte-Ma- hunts and fishes locally and since the main part of Greenland’s rie, 1986a, 1986b, 1991; Legezynska et al., 2000), is found in large export is based on fisheries. The maintenance of the economy numbers (1535 m−2; Sainte-Marie, 1986b), and is relatively sta- 1664 The amphipod Orchomenella pinguis — bioindicator for Arctic contamination 1665 tionary within a site (Sainte-Marie, 1986b). It is also likely to be among the first organisms to be affected by contaminants orig- inating from land due to its occurrence in shallow coastal wa- ters. Furthermore, O. pinguis feeds partly on detritus (Sainte- Marie, 1986b), and lives in close association with sediments as a surface burrower. Since sediments are sinks for contaminants, this species is likely to be highly exposed to contaminants not only from water and food sources, but also via contaminants bound to sediment particles. Thus O. pinguis fulfils at least some of the criteria for a suitable bioindicator, however nothing has been reported of its occurrence in relation to contaminants and Figure 1. Sampling locations in Ulkebugten, Sisimiut, Greenland. The sediment organic content, or its potential to adapt to such hab- sampling locations are, from the inner part of the fjord to open waters the three sites closest to point sources 1: hospital wastewater outlet, 2: itats. We therefore collected different populations of O. pinguis marina, and 3: harbor; one site 4: outer bay (outside town, but close at sites with different sediment contaminant concentrations and to the small airport), and finally a site characterized by the open water organic content, and this is the first paper describing effects on masses, 5: Frederik VII’s Island. population characteristics of this species in Greenland. This in- formation is needed to assess the species’ potential as a bioindi- large buckets (10 l) at 5 °C in aerated seawater provided with a cator and to identify suitable endpoints for measurement. handful of sediment and a bit of macroalgae until processing. The study area, Ulkebugten, is a larger bay on the west coast Sediment was collected using a Van Veen grab at each site adjacent to Sisimiut, the second largest town in Greenland. Al- on each sampling occasion. After sampling the sediment was ready in the 1920s and 1930s a fish factory and shipyard were es- drained of overlying water and stored at −20 °C until analysis. tablished here, and from the 1960s the town grew rapidly. There is no sewage treatment, so all wastewater from the ~5500 inhab- 2.2. Sediment analyses itants and industry, including a fish factory and a hospital, is dis- charged, untreated, directly into the sea. Furthermore, Ulke- Analyses included measurements of organic content, 19 PAHs and bugten is heavily trafficked by boating, with a marina used for six heavy metals. The organic content of the sediment samples motorboats and motorized dinghies, and a larger harbor with were determined as loss on ignition at 550 °C after 6 h. motorized dinghies as well as larger fishing boats, and trawlers. PAH analysis was performed according to the method de- Ferries and cruise ships also frequently anchor in Ulkebugten scribed by Boll et al. (2008) with minor modifications. Mix- during the summer season. tures of 18 individual PAHs (PAH mix 2, Supelco); i.e., the 16 The objective of our work was to determine if O. pinguis has PAHs suggested by the US-EPA as priority pollutants, and 1- and the potential to serve as a bioindicator for contamination in the 2-methylnaphtalene were used as quantification standards. An Arctic by (i) investigating its occurrence in contaminated areas; internal standard consisting of a mixture of six different deu- (ii) assessing whether living in contaminated areas has any effect torated standards in