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Effects of Nanocopper Antifouling Paint on Benthic Community Diversity
Citation:
Giroux, M., J. Reichman, T. Langknecht, Bonnie M. Smith, R. Burgess, AND K. Ho. Effects of Nanocopper Antifouling Paint on Benthic Community Diversity. SETAC North America Annual Meeting 2023, Louisville, KY, November 12 - 16, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
This project will provide valuable information to the agency for the regulation of nanomaterials used in environmental applications. This research showcases the differences in toxicity of different forms of copper in commercially-available products. Additionally, this research evaluates how the composition of communities of marine organisms change in response to nanocopper exposure, which helps to identify the types of organisms that are sensitive to nanocopper.
Description:
Copper-based antifouling paints are used to prevent the settlement of aquatic sessile organisms. A primary concern of copper-based antifouling paints are the adverse effects to non-target aquatic organisms, particularly in sediment where copper accumulates after ablating from boat hulls. Recently, some manufacturers have adopted nanocopper as the active ingredient instead of cuprous oxide or cuprous thiocyanate. However, less is known about the effects of nanocopper paint on benthic communities than conventional copper antifouling paints. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the differences between nanocopper particles, nanocopper in a paint matrix, and dissolved copper (copper sulfate) on eukaryotic benthic community diversity with an environmental RNA metabarcoding approach. Using sediment cores collected from the Narrow River Estuary (Rhode Island, USA) as mesocosms, 3 concentrations of nanocopper paint dust (20, 120, and 240 mg Cu/kg sediment), nanocopper particles (120 mg Cu/kg sediment), copper sulfate (120 mg Cu/kg sediment), or paint dust without nanocopper (0 mg Cu/kg sediment) were added to the mesocosms via spiking a reference sediment. After a 14-day exposure, sediment was collected for RNA extraction and reverse transcribed to cDNA. Amplicon PCR was performed for two markers: cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and 18S rRNA (18S). Libraries were sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq and bioinformatic analyses were conducted in QIIME2. Preliminary results show that copper sulfate had the greatest impact on benthic communities, resulting in the lowest species richness and evenness of any group. No significant differences were observed in species richness or evenness among any of the nanocopper paint dust treatments and the controls, although there was a trending decrease in richness and evenness in the high nanocopper paint dust group compared to lower concentrations. Several organisms comprised of ciliates, cercozoa, nematodes, and arthropods, were less abundant in the highest nanocopper paint dust treatment compared to controls. This investigation suggests that copper sulfate dissolves rapidly, exposing the benthic community to high levels of ionic copper. Paint dust and nanocopper particles, by design, release dissolved copper more slowly, resulting in less substantial impacts on the benthos. These results broaden our understanding of the adverse effects of different forms of copper and identification of taxa sensitive to nanocopper.
URLs/Downloads:
https://www.setac.org/discover-events/global-meetings/setac-north-america-44th-annual-meeting/general-info/important-dates.html