94
M.G. Marin et al.
cal response exhibits seasonal influences. mainly in relation to the spawning period, when
mean anoxic survival time reaches the lowest
value. A phase difference between the two clam
populations during spawning period. which in
Venice lagoon occurs from June to October
(Breber 1996), could have acted by lowering the
sensitivity of the "survival in air" test.
Furthermore, more restrictive environmental
conditions (mostly temperature and oxygen
availability) can exert their detrimental effect
particularly on clams from Palude della Rosa,
where these natural environmental stressors
come to play a predominant role. As for the
transplanted clams, these have significantly
reduced survival times (P
revealed, as the survival time of T. philippinarum at P. Marghera is lower than those at
Palude della Rosa (P
most polluted site, on both sampling seasons
(Table I: mean latency time 68% and 59% lower
in April and July, respectively). Moreover, a significant (P
at P. Marghera (Table 2), where the histochemical
index shows the same slowing down trend
reported for "survival in air" response in the
translocation experiment.
As a whole the results indicate different levels of responsiveness for the biological indices
measured, mostly depending on season and
exposure time at the monitoring sites. Because
of their rapid response to changing environmental conditions, resistance to aerial exposure
and lysosomal latency time appear to be particularly suitable in defining early biological warning systems. Finally, the use of T. philippinarum
as an indicator species in estuarine environments is suggested as a potential tool in order to
obtain an integrated biological response evaluating both water column and sediment quality.
In conclusion, the overall results obtained in this
study confirm that the bivalve transplantation
method is a useful approach in marine coastal
biomonitoring. In particular, it allows to reach
valuable and quicker results in comparison with
seasonal traditional monitoring. being a technique less time consuming, even though similarly sensitive.
Acknowledgements. This work was funded by the MURST
project "Conservazione della biodiversita e gestione sostenibile dei biotopi saImastri delle coste italiane" and by grants
from AMAV. Venezia and E.ll. in the frame of E.ll. WATERS
Project: LIFE 96 ENV/IT/OOl03.
References
Bianchi F,Acri F,Alberighi L, Bastianini M, Boldrin A. Cavalloni B.
Cioce F. Comaschi A, Rabitti 5, Socal G. Turchetto M (1997)
The lagoon of Venice: a biological variability study. Unesco,
Paris
Breber P (1996) Allevamento della vongola verace in ltalia. Cleup.
Padow
de Kock We, Kramer KJM (1994) Active biomonitoring (ABM) by
translocation of bivalve molluscs. In: Kramer KIM (ed)
Biomonitoring of coastal waters and estuaries. eRe Press,
Boca Raton. Florida, pp 51-84
Eertman RHM, Wagenvoort AT, Hummel H, Smaal AC (1993)
"Survival in air" of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis 1. as a sensitive response to pollution-induced environmental stress. J
Exp Mar BioI Eco1170: 179-175
Fattore E, Benfenati E, Mariani G, Cools E, Vezzoli G. Fanelli R
(1997a) Analysis of organic micropollutants in sediment
samples of the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Wat Air Soil Pollut 99:
237-244
Fattore E, Benfenati E, Mariani G, Fanelli R, Evers EHG (1997b)
Patterns and sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins
and dibenzofurans in sediments from the Venice Lagoon,
Italy. Environ Sci Technol 31: 1777-1784
Frignani M, Bellucci LG, Langone L, Muntau H (1997) Metal fluxes to the sediments of the northern Venice Lagoon. Mar
Chem 58: 275-292
Gehan EA (1965) A generalized Wilcoxon test for comparing arbitrarily singly censored samples. Biometrika 52: 203-223
Goldberg ED, Bowen VT. Farrington IH. Harvey G, Martin JH.
Parker PL, Riseborough RW, Robertson W, Schneider .13,
Gamble E (1978) The mussel watch. Enviran Conserv 5: 1-25.
Kaplan EL, Meier P (1958) Non parametric estimation from
incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 53: 457- 481
Martin JM, Huang ww, Yoon YY (1994) Level and fate of trace
metals in the Lagoon of Venice. Mar Chem 46: 371-386
Moore MN (1976) Cytochemical demonstration of latency of
lysosomal hydrolases in digestive cells of the common mussel. Mytilus edulis. and changes induced by thermal stress.
Cell Tissue Res 175: 279-287
Smaal AC, Widdows J (1994) The scope for growth of bivalves as
an integrated response parameter in biological monitoring.
In: Kramer KIM (ed) Biomonitoring of coastal waters and
estuaries. eRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 247-267
Widdows I (1993) Marine and estuarine invertebrate toxicity
tests. In: Calow P (ed) Handbook of Ecotoxicology, vol I.
Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp 145-166
Widdows J. Donkin P (1992) Mussels and environmental contaminants: bioaccumulation and physiological aspects. In:
Gosling E (ed.) The mussel M)'tilus. Elsevier Press,
Amsterdam, pp 383-424
Widdows I, Nasci e, FossatoVU (1997) Effects of pollution on the
scope fur growth of mussels (M)'tilus galloprovincialis) from
the Venice lagoon, Italy. Mar Environ Res 43: 69-79
M.G. Marin et al.
cal response exhibits seasonal influences. mainly in relation to the spawning period, when
mean anoxic survival time reaches the lowest
value. A phase difference between the two clam
populations during spawning period. which in
Venice lagoon occurs from June to October
(Breber 1996), could have acted by lowering the
sensitivity of the "survival in air" test.
Furthermore, more restrictive environmental
conditions (mostly temperature and oxygen
availability) can exert their detrimental effect
particularly on clams from Palude della Rosa,
where these natural environmental stressors
come to play a predominant role. As for the
transplanted clams, these have significantly
reduced survival times (P
revealed, as the survival time of T. philippinarum at P. Marghera is lower than those at
Palude della Rosa (P
most polluted site, on both sampling seasons
(Table I: mean latency time 68% and 59% lower
in April and July, respectively). Moreover, a significant (P
at P. Marghera (Table 2), where the histochemical
index shows the same slowing down trend
reported for "survival in air" response in the
translocation experiment.
As a whole the results indicate different levels of responsiveness for the biological indices
measured, mostly depending on season and
exposure time at the monitoring sites. Because
of their rapid response to changing environmental conditions, resistance to aerial exposure
and lysosomal latency time appear to be particularly suitable in defining early biological warning systems. Finally, the use of T. philippinarum
as an indicator species in estuarine environments is suggested as a potential tool in order to
obtain an integrated biological response evaluating both water column and sediment quality.
In conclusion, the overall results obtained in this
study confirm that the bivalve transplantation
method is a useful approach in marine coastal
biomonitoring. In particular, it allows to reach
valuable and quicker results in comparison with
seasonal traditional monitoring. being a technique less time consuming, even though similarly sensitive.
Acknowledgements. This work was funded by the MURST
project "Conservazione della biodiversita e gestione sostenibile dei biotopi saImastri delle coste italiane" and by grants
from AMAV. Venezia and E.ll. in the frame of E.ll. WATERS
Project: LIFE 96 ENV/IT/OOl03.
References
Bianchi F,Acri F,Alberighi L, Bastianini M, Boldrin A. Cavalloni B.
Cioce F. Comaschi A, Rabitti 5, Socal G. Turchetto M (1997)
The lagoon of Venice: a biological variability study. Unesco,
Paris
Breber P (1996) Allevamento della vongola verace in ltalia. Cleup.
Padow
de Kock We, Kramer KJM (1994) Active biomonitoring (ABM) by
translocation of bivalve molluscs. In: Kramer KIM (ed)
Biomonitoring of coastal waters and estuaries. eRe Press,
Boca Raton. Florida, pp 51-84
Eertman RHM, Wagenvoort AT, Hummel H, Smaal AC (1993)
"Survival in air" of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis 1. as a sensitive response to pollution-induced environmental stress. J
Exp Mar BioI Eco1170: 179-175
Fattore E, Benfenati E, Mariani G, Cools E, Vezzoli G. Fanelli R
(1997a) Analysis of organic micropollutants in sediment
samples of the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Wat Air Soil Pollut 99:
237-244
Fattore E, Benfenati E, Mariani G, Fanelli R, Evers EHG (1997b)
Patterns and sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins
and dibenzofurans in sediments from the Venice Lagoon,
Italy. Environ Sci Technol 31: 1777-1784
Frignani M, Bellucci LG, Langone L, Muntau H (1997) Metal fluxes to the sediments of the northern Venice Lagoon. Mar
Chem 58: 275-292
Gehan EA (1965) A generalized Wilcoxon test for comparing arbitrarily singly censored samples. Biometrika 52: 203-223
Goldberg ED, Bowen VT. Farrington IH. Harvey G, Martin JH.
Parker PL, Riseborough RW, Robertson W, Schneider .13,
Gamble E (1978) The mussel watch. Enviran Conserv 5: 1-25.
Kaplan EL, Meier P (1958) Non parametric estimation from
incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 53: 457- 481
Martin JM, Huang ww, Yoon YY (1994) Level and fate of trace
metals in the Lagoon of Venice. Mar Chem 46: 371-386
Moore MN (1976) Cytochemical demonstration of latency of
lysosomal hydrolases in digestive cells of the common mussel. Mytilus edulis. and changes induced by thermal stress.
Cell Tissue Res 175: 279-287
Smaal AC, Widdows J (1994) The scope for growth of bivalves as
an integrated response parameter in biological monitoring.
In: Kramer KIM (ed) Biomonitoring of coastal waters and
estuaries. eRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 247-267
Widdows I (1993) Marine and estuarine invertebrate toxicity
tests. In: Calow P (ed) Handbook of Ecotoxicology, vol I.
Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp 145-166
Widdows J. Donkin P (1992) Mussels and environmental contaminants: bioaccumulation and physiological aspects. In:
Gosling E (ed.) The mussel M)'tilus. Elsevier Press,
Amsterdam, pp 383-424
Widdows I, Nasci e, FossatoVU (1997) Effects of pollution on the
scope fur growth of mussels (M)'tilus galloprovincialis) from
the Venice lagoon, Italy. Mar Environ Res 43: 69-79