Integrated ecological quality assessment of the sea area adjacent to the Yellow River estuary under multiple pollutants

IF 2.8 2区生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY

Frontiers in Marine Science Pub Date : 2025-02-26 DOI:10.3389/fmars.2025.1542611

Wen Li, Jinqing Ye, Xin Gao, Yunlei Zhang, Ying Li, Hongjun Li

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Estuaries are increasingly threatened by pollutants derived from human activities, which severely impair their water quality, biodiversity, and ecological functions. Therefore, within this context, it is essential to conduct comprehensive and scientifically rigorous assessments of estuarine ecological quality. Taking the Yellow River estuary as a case study, a composite index was here developed to evaluate the impacts of eutrophication and heavy metal pollution on estuarine ecological quality. The Trix eutrophication index and potential ecological risk index revealed significant risks of eutrophication and heavy metal pollution. Redundancy analysis identified that nutrients (NO2-N and NO3-N) and heavy metals (Cd, Hg, and Cr) were the primary pollutants affecting the composition of dominant macrofauna. Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis was used to identify indicator species for these pollutants and, based on them, bioindicators capable of reflecting eutrophication and heavy metal pollution levels were then determined. A composite index integrating these bioindicators with other biotic indexes was constructed for comprehensive ecological quality assessment. The results showed that the ecological quality of the estuary was good, with values being even lower in the nearshore area. Structural equation modeling confirmed that estuarine ecological quality was significantly influenced, both directly and indirectly, by multiple pollutants, validating the effectiveness of the composite index as an analytical tool. We argue that integrating bioindicators of major pollutants with other benthic indexes into the developed composite index allows to effectively assess the effects of multiple pollutants on estuarine ecological quality and provide valuable insights for ecosystem management.

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Marine Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Aquatic Science

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

16.20%

发文量

2443

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Marine Science publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that advances our understanding of all aspects of the environment, biology, ecosystem functioning and human interactions with the oceans. Field Chief Editor Carlos M. Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide. With the human population predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is clear that traditional land resources will not suffice to meet the demand for food or energy, required to support high-quality livelihoods. As a result, the oceans are emerging as a source of untapped assets, with new innovative industries, such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine energy and deep-sea mining growing rapidly under a new era characterized by rapid growth of a blue, ocean-based economy. The sustainability of the blue economy is closely dependent on our knowledge about how to mitigate the impacts of the multiple pressures on the ocean ecosystem associated with the increased scale and diversification of industry operations in the ocean and global human pressures on the environment. Therefore, Frontiers in Marine Science particularly welcomes the communication of research outcomes addressing ocean-based solutions for the emerging challenges, including improved forecasting and observational capacities, understanding biodiversity and ecosystem problems, locally and globally, effective management strategies to maintain ocean health, and an improved capacity to sustainably derive resources from the oceans.