Associations between pharmaceutical contaminants, parasite load and health status in brown trout exposed to sewage effluent in a small stream

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Authors

PRAVDOVÁ Markéta GRABICOVÁ Kateřina KOLÁŘOVÁ Jitka MIKL Libor GRABICOVÁ Kateřina MIKL Libor BLÁHA Martin RANDÁK Tomáš KVACH Yuriy JURAJDA Pavel ONDRAČKOVÁ Markéta

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1642359320300768#!
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecohyd.2020.09.001
Keywords Aquatic pollution; Brown trout; Health indicators; Parasites; Sewage treatment plants; Pharmaceuticals
Description Owing to their widespread use, pharmaceuticals have become important pollutants of the aquatic environment. Pharmaceuticals and parasites can affect the immunity, physiology and behaviour of target organisms, both singly and through interaction. In this study, we related pharmaceutical concentration, parasite infection and condition in brown trout (Salmo trutta m. fario) collected at localities upstream and downstream of a sewage treatment plant (STP). The sites were separated by a weir preventing fish migration. Pharmaceutical number and concentrations differed significantly between sites. Antibiotics and antidepressants were found at the highest concentrations at both localities. Though fish condition and overall parasite abundance did not differ between sites, there was a significant difference in parasite community composition. A higher abundance of monogenean ectoparasites, along with a lower abundance of endoparasites, was observed at the downstream locality. The adverse effect of pharmaceutical load on ecto- and endoparasitic species on brown trout was further confirmed at the individual level using multivariate analysis. Both the number and concentration of pharmaceuticals in fish tissues reflected their high incidence in the environment, confirming the ability of trout to bioaccumulate pharmaceuticals. This could have important consequences on fish health, particularly in small streams where STP effluent represents a high proportion of stream flow.
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