3 Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Microbial Biofilms from Freshwater Ecosystems . . . . . . 126
3.1 Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Periphytic Biofilms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.2 Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Sediment or Leaf Litter Microbial Communities . . 133
3.3 Contaminant Distribution in Different Kinds of Biofilms and Potential Contribution
to Trophic Transfer in Aquatic Ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4 Contaminant Transfer from Microbial Biofilms Through Food Webs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.1 Current Approaches Used to Follow Contaminants Through Food Webs . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.2 Role of Microbial Biofilms in Contaminant Transfers Through Aquatic Food Webs 138
5 Conclusions and Future Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Keywords Analytical methods · Metals · Microbial ecotoxicology · Organic
micropollutants · Periphyton
Abbreviations
AAS
Atomic absorption spectrometry
BCF
Bioconcentration factor
BMF
Biomagnification factor
CLSM
Confocal laser scanning microscopy
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DOM
Dissolved organic matter
EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
EPS
Extracellular polymeric substances
GC-MS
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
ICP-MS
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
ICP-OES Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry
K ow
Octanol-water partition coefficient
LC-MS
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
LOQ
Limit of quantification
PAHs
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls
STXM
Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy
TBEP
Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate
TEM
Transmission electron microscopy
1 Introduction
Freshwater environments host microbial biomass that can aggregate and attach to
submerged inorganic (like rock, gravel, sediment) or organic (like leaf litter, macrophytes) substrates. These microbial assemblages, called “biofilms” (Watnick and
Kolter 2000), are composed of eukaryotic (e.g., microalgae, fungi, protozoa) and
116
C. Bonnineau et al.
3.1 Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Periphytic Biofilms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.2 Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Sediment or Leaf Litter Microbial Communities . . 133
3.3 Contaminant Distribution in Different Kinds of Biofilms and Potential Contribution
to Trophic Transfer in Aquatic Ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4 Contaminant Transfer from Microbial Biofilms Through Food Webs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.1 Current Approaches Used to Follow Contaminants Through Food Webs . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.2 Role of Microbial Biofilms in Contaminant Transfers Through Aquatic Food Webs 138
5 Conclusions and Future Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Keywords Analytical methods · Metals · Microbial ecotoxicology · Organic
micropollutants · Periphyton
Abbreviations
AAS
Atomic absorption spectrometry
BCF
Bioconcentration factor
BMF
Biomagnification factor
CLSM
Confocal laser scanning microscopy
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DOM
Dissolved organic matter
EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
EPS
Extracellular polymeric substances
GC-MS
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
ICP-MS
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
ICP-OES Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry
K ow
Octanol-water partition coefficient
LC-MS
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
LOQ
Limit of quantification
PAHs
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls
STXM
Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy
TBEP
Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate
TEM
Transmission electron microscopy
1 Introduction
Freshwater environments host microbial biomass that can aggregate and attach to
submerged inorganic (like rock, gravel, sediment) or organic (like leaf litter, macrophytes) substrates. These microbial assemblages, called “biofilms” (Watnick and
Kolter 2000), are composed of eukaryotic (e.g., microalgae, fungi, protozoa) and
116
C. Bonnineau et al.