Ecotoxicological implications of hydrogen peroxide environmental discharge on marine invertebrate organisms

化学污染物可以通过各种来源进入沿海海洋系统，包括通过废水系统、土地径流和沿海工业活动（如水产养殖）排放。沿海海洋环境中的生物暴露于各种各样的污染物和污染物中，了解暴露的毒理学效应机制对于评估对种群和生态系统的潜在长期影响至关重要。该项目旨在关注苏格兰沿海环境中当前相关的关键污染物，例如从废水处理或沿海水产养殖等工业活动中进入海洋环境的污染物。在过去的二十年里，苏格兰的鲑鱼养殖迅速增长，未来几年的投资和增长迹象明显。过氧化氢将成为主要的目标污染物，因为它被用作海底结构的生物污垢处理和海洋鲑鱼养殖设施的海洋污水的化学处理。将特别关注对海胆和贻贝的影响，因为它们作为底栖动物和滤食性动物的生态作用以及作为潜在目标渔业的经济价值。目前，苏格兰对发展综合多营养水产养殖（IMTA）以实现水产养殖业的可持续、高效和生产性发展很感兴趣，海胆和贻贝都被考虑在综合多营养水产养殖系统中发展。由于贻贝养殖业的高产和不断增长，贻贝在苏格兰西海岸引起了额外的兴趣。贻贝养殖场与鲑鱼养殖场位于同一个海湖系统；因此，了解无意中暴露于鲑鱼养殖场排放的化学物质的毒理学影响是特别有趣的。过氧化氢密封处理的使用频率越来越高，因为它具有快速的反应性和在环境中分解的能力，而且在一些替代化学处理方案（如埃维菌素）中没有明显的生物积累。过氧化氢产生活性氧，可引起组织氧化损伤，包括DNA链断裂。有报道称，在挪威鲑鱼圈附近的甲壳类动物（虾）种群中存在非靶效应。目前尚不清楚沿海鲑鱼养殖设施处理产生的浓度和环境暴露如何以及在多大程度上影响周围水域的生物。在生态毒理学研究中，海胆和贻贝都是公认的模式生物，在生理、行为和繁殖方面，它们具有完整的基因组测序和注释，为研究提供了遗传和分子工具。它们被广泛用作水生环境污染物存在的生物指标，生物标志物分析得到了很好的描述和优化。科学的方法将是调查海胆和贻贝接触过氧化氢对环境的毒理学影响。这些实验将描述生殖和发育毒性，并涉及成年和幼虫接触。

Chemical contaminants can enter coastal marine systems by various sources including discharge through waste water systems, land run-off, and coastal industrial activities such as aquaculture. Organisms in the coastal marine environment are exposed to a wide range of pollutants and contaminants, and understanding mechanisms of toxicological effects of exposure is essential for assessing potential long-term impacts on populations and ecosystems. This project seeks to focus on key contaminants of current relevance in Scottish coastal environment, for example contaminants entering the marine environment from waste water treatments or industrial activities such as coastal aquaculture. Salmon farming has seen a rapid increase in Scotland over the last twenty years, with clear indications of investment and growth continuing in the years to come. Hydrogen peroxide will be the main target contaminant due to its use as a biofouling treatment on submarine structures and as a chemical treatment of sealice in marine salmon farming facilities. Of particular focus will be effects on sea urchins and mussels due to their ecological roles as benthic detritivores and filter feeders as well as their economic value as potential target fisheries. There is a current interest in Scotland to develop integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) for sustainable, efficient, and productive development of the aquaculture industry, and both sea urchins and mussels are considered for development in IMTA systems. Mussels are of additional interest in the west coast of Scotland due to the productive and growing mussel aquaculture industry. Mussel farms are co-located in the same sea loch systems with salmon farms; therefore, it is of particular interest to understand the toxicological impacts of inadvertent exposure to chemical discharges from salmon farms.Hydrogen peroxide sealice treatment is being used more frequently due to the fast reactivity and breakdown in the environment and the absence of bioaccumulation that is evident with some alternative chemical treatment options (e.g. emamectin). Hydrogen peroxide produces reactive oxygen species and can cause oxidative damage in tissues, including DNA strand breaks. There have been reports of non-target effects in crustacean (shrimp) populations near salmon pens in Norway. It is unknown how and to what extent the concentrations and environmental exposure resulting from treatment of a coastal salmon aquaculture facility can impact organisms in the surrounding water. Both sea urchins and mussels are well-established model organisms in ecotoxicological studies, with fully sequenced and annotated genomes providing genetic and molecular tools for research, in the context of well-characterised physiology, behaviour, and reproduction. They are widely used as bioindicators for the presence of water-borne environmental contaminants, and biomarker analyses are well described and optimized. The scientific approach will be to investigate toxicological effects of environmentally relevant exposures of sea urchins and mussels to hydrogen peroxide. These experiments will characterise reproductive and developmental toxicity, and involve both adult and larval exposures.