An integrated approach to model the biomagnification of organic pollutants in aquatic food webs of the Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir ecosystem using adapted pollution scenarios

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 20; no. 10; pp. 7009 - 7026
• Main Authors: Scholz-Starke, Björn, Ottermanns, Richard, Rings, Ursula, Floehr, Tilman, Hollert, Henner, Hou, Junli, Li, Bo, Wu, Ling Ling, Yuan, Xingzhong, Strauch, Katrin, Wei, Hu, Norra, Stefan, Holbach, Andreas, Westrich, Bernhard, Schäffer, Andreas, Roß-Nickoll, Martina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural runoff; analysis; aquatic communities; Aquatic ecosystems; aquatic food webs; Aquatic organisms; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioaccumulation; Biological magnification; Canyons; chemistry; Contaminants; Dams; drainage; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystem; ecosystems; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental factors; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental restoration; Environmental risk; Environmental science; Environmental testing; Floods; Floods - statistics & numerical data; Flow velocity; Food Chain; Food chains; Food contamination; Food industry; Food webs; Foods; Households; industry; Integrated approach; lakes; Land use; land use change; Mathematical models; metabolism; methods; Models, Biological; Nonpoint source pollution; Nutrients; PCB; Pesticides; Pesticides - analysis; Pesticides - metabolism; Pollutants; Pollution; Pollution abatement; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Processes and Environmental Quality in the Yangtze River System; Propanil; Research projects; Reservoirs; Risk assessment; Rivers; Rivers - chemistry; runoff; science education; Sewage; Sewage - analysis; Sewage - statistics & numerical data; statistics & numerical data; Studies; Urban agriculture; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism; Water Pollution Control; Webs; Yangtze River; China; China, People's Rep., Sichuan Prov., Changjiang R., Three Gorges Dam; China, People's Rep., Changjiang R; Yangtze River; Environmental risk assessment; Integrated environmental modeling; AQUATOX framework; Simulation; Bioaccumulation; Regionalization; Three Gorges Reservoir; Yangtze food webs; Biomagnification
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-013-1504-5

The impounding of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) at the Yangtze River caused large flooding of urban, industrial, and agricultural areas, and profound land use changes took place. Consequently, substantial amounts of organic and inorganic pollutants were released into the reservoir. Additionally, contaminants and nutrients are entering the reservoir by drift, drainage, and runoff from adjacent agricultural areas as well as from sewage of industry, aquacultures, and households. The main aim of the presented research project is a deeper understanding of the processes that determines the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of organic pollutants, i.e., mainly pesticides, in aquatic food webs under the newly developing conditions of the TGR. The project is part of the Yangtze-Hydro environmental program, financed by the German Ministry of Education and Science. In order to test combinations of environmental factors like nutrients and pollution, we use an integrated modeling approach to study the potential accumulation and biomagnification. We describe the integrative modeling approach and the consecutive adaption of the AQUATOX model, used as modeling framework for ecological risk assessment. As a starting point, pre-calibrated simulations were adapted to Yangtze-specific conditions (regionalization). Two exemplary food webs were developed by a thorough review of the pertinent literature. The first typical for the flowing conditions of the original Yangtze River and the Daning River near the city of Wushan, and the second for the stagnant reservoir characteristics of the aforementioned region that is marked by an intermediate between lake and large river communities of aquatic organisms. In close cooperation with German and Chinese partners of the Yangtze-Hydro Research Association, other site-specific parameters were estimated. The MINIBAT project contributed to the calibration of physicochemical and bathymetric parameters, and the TRANSMIC project delivered hydrodynamic models for water volume and flow velocity conditions. The research questions were firstly focused on the definition of scenarios that could depict representative situations regarding food webs, pollution, and flow conditions in the TGR. The food webs and the abiotic site conditions in the main study area near the city of Wushan that determine the environmental preconditions for the organisms were defined. In our conceptual approach, we used the pesticide propanil as a model substance.