Assessment of heavy metal pollution in Laizhou Bay (China) using the ecological risk index and the integrated biomarker response of the goby Acanthogobius ommaturus

We used the Integrated Biological Responses version 2 (IBRv2) method to evaluate the biological effects of heavy metals in the sediments in Laizhou Bay, China on the benthic goby Acanthogobius ommaturus. In December 2018, gobies and sediments were collected from 15 stations. We measured the activities of defense enzymes and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and metallothionein (MT) in the goby liver as well as the levels of heavy metals in the sediments and goby muscle tissue. Most of the heavy metal concentrations in sediment at each station were below the Class I criteria set by Chinese Standards for Marine Sediment Quality, and the Hakanson ecological risk index suggested low risk for the heavy metals. We found that A. ommaturus could effectively accumulate mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and zinc and that the contents of MT and MDA and the activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were suitable biomarkers of heavy metal pollution in this species. The IBRv2 method integrated these four biomarkers and discriminated stations according to heavy metal pollution. Higher IBRv2 values suggested more adverse effects in gobies, corroborating more serious heavy metal contamination. The stations with high IBRv2 values and high contents of heavy metals were mainly distributed in the west and northeast parts of the bay. These results show that the IBRv2 approach is a feasible strategy for assessing heavy metal pollution through biological response and biological status and that it can be implemented for environmental monitoring in Laizhou Bay.