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Assessment of Sediment Contamination, Toxicity and Benthic Community Composition in Ukrainian Part of Danube Delta
Citation:
Romanenko, V., S. Afanasyev, R. M. BURGESS, K. T. HO, A. Lyashenko, L. Kipnis, I. Konovets, A. Terletskaya, AND M. Milyukin. Assessment of Sediment Contamination, Toxicity and Benthic Community Composition in Ukrainian Part of Danube Delta. In Proceedings, 37th IAD Conference: The Danube River Basin in a Changing World, Chisinau, MOLDOVA, October 29 - November 01, 2008. International Association for Danube Research, Petrovaradin, Serbia, 199-203, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
These proceedings report the results of an evaluation of the ecological state of Danube Delta sediments using contaminant analyses, benthic community assessment, and sediment toxicity testing. The state of benthic communities was appraised as 53% “satisfactory” and 47% “mediocre”. A direct relationship between contamination levels and benthic community structure was not found. These findings suggest the impaired state of benthic communities at several stations in the Danube Delta result from the influence of a combination of toxic and abiotic factors (e.g., salinity and currents as well as anthropogenic pollution). Further research is underway in this part of the Danube Delta to better understand these factors.
Description:
This study focused on identifying impaired and unimpaired areas (i.e., reference) within the Ukrainian portion of the Danube Delta using modern environmental diagnostic approaches and tools. To characterize the state of the areas under study, a triad approach was used including chemical analysis of contaminant concentrations in sediments, toxicity testing, and benthic community assessments. The study was carried-out with support from the United States Department of State and Environment Protection Agency under the project “Development and Application of Diagnostic Tools for Identifying Causes of Environmental Impairments in the Estuarine Systems of Ukraine”.