Changes in zooplankton communities along a mercury contamination gradient in a coastal lagoon (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal)

摘要

The main objective of this paper was to evaluate the impact of mercury on the zooplankton communities’structure and functioning and their bioaccumulation patterns along a contamination gradient in atemperate coastal lagoon. Our results demonstrated that total abundance was not negatively affectedby Hg contamination, since the most contaminated areas presented the highest values, being the copepodAcartia tonsa the dominant species, which means that it is a very well adapted and tolerant species tomercury. Nevertheless, negative effects were observed in terms of species diversity, since the most contaminatedareas presented the lowest values of species richness, evenness and heterogeneity. Moreover,the spatial mercury gradient was reflected on the bioaccumulation patterns of the zooplankton communities.This reinforces the idea that zooplankton can be considered as an important vehicle of mercurytransfer through the food pelagic web since it constitutes a primordial food resource for several commercialfish species.