This paper presents an approach to apply aquatic passive sampling (PS) in regulatory chemical water quality monitoring in Europe. Absorption-based passive sampling is well developed and suitable for the sampling of hydrophobic chemicals, some of which are European Water Framework Directive priority substances with Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) derived for biota.Considering a chemical activity approach to chemical risk assessment, we propose equilibrium concentration in lipids (from passive water sampling) as a reference value for measured concentrations in biota. Through existing PS-fish datasets, we show a growing body of evidence supporting the use of lipid-based contaminant concentrations at equilibrium with water derived from PS as a conservative proxy of levels of these chemicals in fish.We propose a procedure that includes PS as a first, animal-free screening step of a tiered approach, followed by more conventional fish analyses when PS indicates these are needed to confirm EQSbiota exceedance. This paper reviews fish-passive sampler datasets, provides a reasoning for the proposed procedure and discusses how to broadly put it into monitoring practice. PS offers the possibility of well-defined standardised monitoring approaches that can help overcome the natural variability challenges associated with measurements in biota across member states and simplify EQSbiota compliance.

Since 2018, in situ caging of Gammarus fossarum has been used by French water agencies at more than 400 river sites. This active biomonitoring tool helps meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive by analysing priority substances in biota. It is also used to assess the bioavailable chemical contamination level in waterbodies for a wider range of substances. However, the current list of monitored substances, which is partly determined by the analytical capabilities of the service provider's laboratory, needs to be refined to optimise biomonitoring and better reflect environmental contamination. This study proposes a scientific approach for defining a list of "substances of interest" to be monitored in caged gammarids. A total of 1751 candidate substances were classified using a tiered approach based on a decision tree. This approach categorised substances according to their quantification frequency (QF) in biota (Gammarus, other invertebrates and fish) and sediment. The QF data originates from the monitoring programme of the French water agencies using caged gammarids, as well as from an international bibliographic search focusing on contaminants of emerging concern in the aquatic environment (132 studies were used). This approach yielded a list of 235 substances of interest, for which the QF in biota is at least 20

BACKGROUND:Tropical coral reefs cover only ca. 0.1% of the Earth's surface but harbour exceptional marine biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. They are currently threatened by global (e.g. climate change) and local (e.g. chemical pollution) stressors that interact in multiple ways. While global stressors cannot be mitigated by local actions alone, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management. Here, we aimed to systematically review experimental studies assessing the toxicity of chemical pollutants to tropical reef-building corals to generate accessible and usable knowledge and data that can be used to calculate measurement endpoints in ecological risk assessment. From the quantitative estimates of effects, we determined toxicity thresholds as the highest exposures tested at which no statistically significant adverse effects were observed, and we compared them to regulatory predicted no effect concentrations for the protection of marine organisms, to assess whether these reference values are indeed protective of corals. METHODS:The evidence was taken from a systematic map of the impacts of chemicals arising from human activity on tropical reef-building corals published in 2021. All studies in the map database corresponding to the knowledge cluster "Evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on corals" were selected. To identify subsequently published literature, the search was updated using a subset of the search string used for the systematic map. Titles, abstracts and full-texts were screened according to the criteria defining the selected cluster of the map. Because the eligibility criteria for the systematic review are narrower than the criteria used to define the cluster in the systematic map, additional screening was performed. Studies included were critically appraised and each study was rated as low, unclear, medium, or high risk of bias. Data were extracted from the studies and synthesised according to a strategy dependent on the type of exposure and outcome. REVIEW FINDINGS:The systematic review reports the known effects of chemical exposures on corals from 847 studies corresponding to 181 articles. A total of 697 studies (161 articles) were included in the quantitative synthesis and 150 studies (50 articles) in the narrative synthesis of the findings. The quantitative synthesis records the effects of 2706 exposure concentrations-durations of 164 chemicals or mixtures of chemicals, and identifies 105 toxicity thresholds corresponding to 56 chemicals or mixtures of chemicals. When toxicity thresholds were compared to reference values set for the protection of marine organisms by environmental agencies, the reference values appear to be protective of corals for all but three chemicals assessed: the metal copper and the pesticides diuron and irgarol 1051. CONCLUSIONS:This open-access database of known ecotoxicological effects of chemical exposures on corals can assist managers in the ecological risk assessment of chemicals, by allowing easy determination of various ecotoxicological thresholds. Several limitations of the toxicity tests synthesised here were noted (in particular the lack of measurement of effective concentrations for more than half of the studies). Overall, most of the currently available data on coral toxicity should be replicated independently and extended to corals from less studied geographical regions and functional groups.

Integrative passive samplers, such as DGT (Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films), are identified in European Technical Guidance Documents as promising tools to improve the quality of the assessment, in the context of the WFD (EU Water Framework Directive). However, DGT results cannot yet be used directly in a regulatory framework to assess the chemical status of water bodies, as DGT labile concentrations cannot be directly compared to the metal AA-EQS(marine water) (Annual Average Environmental Quality Standard) established by the WFD, which are defined in the dissolved concentration. Therefore, prior to using DGT results in a regulatory context, for cadmium, nickel and lead, an adaptation of existing AA-EQS(marine water) for DGTs should be pursued, ensuring at least the same level of protection. In this sense, in the framework of the MONITOOL project, a robust database of dissolved and labile metal concentrations in transitional and coastal waters, for adapting the existing AA-EQS(marine water) for DGT technique, was obtained. Building on these results, this study proposes a methodology and provides values and equations for using DGT results for the chemical status assessment of marine waters, by adapting the EQS(marine water) to adapted EQS(DGT) or predicting dissolved concentrations from DGT results. Based on available dataset, a first simulation of "chemical status" assessment per MONITOOL sampling site using DGT measured labile concentrations was carried out and the results were compared to an assessment based on dissolved concentration to check their compliance. These results demonstrate that the use of DGT passive samplers is appropriate for the metal concentrations level encountered in the marine environment. Further work is recommended to test the effectiveness of the methodology proposed in this study under WFD conditions on more sites and to establish common strategy guidelines for the use of DGT passive samplers in monitoring.

Background Tropical coral reefs cover only ca. 0.1% of the Earth’s surface but host an outstanding biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. They are currently threatened by global (e.g., climate change) and local (e.g., chemical pollution) stressors that interact in different ways. While global stressors cannot be mitigated by local actions alone, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management. A systematic map on the impacts of chemicals arising from anthropogenic activities on tropical reef-building corals, which are the main engineer species of reef ecosystems, was published in 2021. This systematic map gathered an abundant literature (908 articles corresponding to 7937 studies), and identified four well-represented subtopics, amenable to relevant full syntheses. Here, we focused on one of the four subtopics: we aimed to systematically review the evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on tropical reef-building corals. Methods The evidence will be identified from the recent systematic map on the impacts of chemicals arising from anthropogenic activities on tropical reef-building corals. Especially, all studies in the map database corresponding to the knowledge cluster “evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on corals” will be selected. To identify the evidence produced since then, a search update will be performed using a subset of the search string used for the systematic map, and titles, abstracts and full-texts will be screened according to the criteria defining the selected cluster of the map. In addition, as the eligibility criteria for the systematic review are narrower than those used to define the cluster in the systematic map, additional screening will be carried out. The included studies will then be critically appraised and a low, medium, or high risk of bias will be assigned to each study. Data will be extracted from studies and synthesised according to a strategy depending on the type of exposure and outcome. Synthesis will be mainly quantitative but also narrative, aiming to identify toxicity thresholds of chemicals for corals.

Complétant l’approche de biosurveillance active des niveaux de contamination chimique des milieux développée chez le gammare, le co-développement INRAE-OFB initié il y a une dizaine d’années a amené à la sphère opérationnelle les premiers bioessais in situ qui permettent d’évaluer la toxicité des cours d’eau à une échelle nationale. Ces outils basés sur l’étude des effets en réponse à la contamination chimique sont aujourd’hui normalisés, déployés à l’échelle des réseaux de surveillance de la directive cadre européenne sur l’eau. Ils permettent aux gestionnaires d’avancer dans l’identification des pressions toxiques qui s’exercent sur les écosystèmes aquatiques continentaux.

Additional file 3: List of excluded articles. List of the articles with missing full-texts, excluded or marked as unclear.

Background: Tropical coral reefs cover ca. 0.1% of the Earth's surface but host an outstanding biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. They are currently threatened by local stressors (e.g. nutrient enrichment and chemical pollution arising from poor land management, sewage effluents, agriculture, industry) and global stressors (mainly seawater warming and acidification, i.e. climate change). Global and local stressors interact in different ways, but the presence of one stressor often reduces the tolerance to additional stress. While global stressors cannot be mitigated solely by local actions, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management, therefore minimizing the impact of climate change on coral reefs. We systematically mapped the evidence of impacts of chemicals arising from anthropogenic activities on tropical reef-building corals, which are the main engineer species of reef ecosystems, to inform decision-makers on the available evidence on this topic. Methods: We searched the relevant literature using English terms combined in a tested search string in two publication databases (Scopus and Web Of Science Core Collection). The search string combined terms describing the population (tropical reef-building corals) and the exposure (chemicals). We searched for additional literature through three search engines, three dissertations repositories, 11 specialist websites, and through a call to local stakeholders. Titles, abstracts, and full-texts were successively screened using pre-defined eligibility criteria. A database of all studies included in the map with coded metadata was produced. The evidence was described and knowledge clusters and gaps were identified through the distribution and frequency of studies into types of exposure and/or types of outcomes and/or types of study. Review findings: The initial searches identified 23,403 articles which resulted in 15,177 articles after duplicate removal. Among them, 908 articles were retained after screening process, corresponding to 7937 studies (a study being the combination of a taxon, an exposure, and an outcome). Among these studies, 30.5% dealt with the impact of nutrient enrichment on corals while 25% concerned the impact of human activities without reference to a chemical. The most measured outcomes were those related to the chemical concentration in corals (bioaccumulation, 25.8%), to coral physiology (16.9%), cover (14%), and mortality (9%). Half of the studies (48.4%) were experimental-the exposure was controlled by the researchers-and were conducted in laboratory conditions (39.4%) and in situ (9%). The most studied taxa, exposure, and outcomes were different between experimental and observational studies. Conclusions: We identified four well-represented subtopics that may be amenable to relevant full syntheses via systematic reviews: (1) evidence on bioaccumulation of chemicals by corals; (2) evidence on the effects of nutrient enrichment on corals; (3) evidence on the effects of human activities on corals; and (4) evidence on the ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on corals (except nutrient enrichment). The systematic map shows that corals in their natural environment can be exposed to many categories of chemicals, and that there is a complete gap in experimental research on the combined effects of more than two categories of chemicals. We therefore encourage research on this topic.

The contamination of water and natural environments by micropollutants linked to residues from health care activities (drugs, detergents, parapharmaceuticals, etc.) generates invisible, silent and alarming levels of pollution for the living world. The management of these phenomena is potentially a public health issue. It is necessary to raise awareness among caregivers in order to develop strategies for reducing pollution at the site, compatible with the multiple constraints of their care activities.

Additional file 1. ROSES systematic review protocols checklist. ROSES form for systematic review protocols version 1.0.

Background : This study aims to describe and test a tiered approach for assessing compliance to Environmental Quality standards (EQSs) for priority substances in biota in line with the European Water Framework Directive. This approach is based on caged gammarids and trophic magnification factors (TMFs) at the first tier, with fish analysed at the second tier at sites predicted to exceed the EQS at the first tier. A dataset was implemented by monitoring perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in caged gammarids exposed at 15 sites in French rivers, and in fish muscle and rest-of- body from the same sites. Isotopic ratios (d 13 C and d 15 N) were also measured in gammarids and fish. Two scenarios were developed to compare measured PFOS concentrations in fish against predicted concentrations based on measures in caged gammarids and TMFs. Scenario (1) compared measured PFOS concentrations in fish fillets with predicted PFOS concentrations based on measured concentrations in caged gammarids and d 15 N. Scenario (2) tested whether or not EQS exceedance was correctly predicted based on measured concentrations in caged gammarids and trophic levels (TLs) from wild fish and gammarid populations. Results : d 13 C and d 15 N variations showed that caged gammarids used local food resources during exposure in the field. PFOS concentrations in gammarids were fairly variable through time at each site. In fish, concentrations ranged from <1 ng g -1 to 250 ng g -1 (wet weight). After adjustment to the TL at which the EQS is set, 12 sites were above the EQS for PFOS. In scenario (1), predicted concentrations were almost correct at 7 sites out of 15. Most incorrect predictions were overestimations that were slightly improved by applying a lower (neutral) TMF. In scenario (2) we tested several variants for parameters involved in the predictions. The most efficient combination yielded two wrong predictions out of 15. This result was obtained with a higher (more conservative) TMF value, mean concentrations in gammarids from several field exposures during a year, and a TL for gammarids at the median of the distribution in French rivers. Conclusion : The proposed tiered approach was thus efficient. However, the number of sites was relatively limited, and the dataset was biased towards EQS exceedance. The tiered approach warrants further validation.

Background Tropical coral reefs cover ca. 0.1% of the Earth’s surface but host an outstanding biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. However, they are currently threatened by both local (e.g. nutrient enrichment and chemical pollution of coastal reefs, arising from poor land management, agriculture and industry) and global stressors (mainly seawater warming and acidification, i.e. climate change). Global and local stressors interact together in different ways, but the presence of one stressor often reduces the tolerance to additional stress. While global stressors cannot be halted by local actions, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management, therefore minimizing the impact of climate change on reefs. To inform decision-makers, we propose here to systematically map the evidence of impacts of chemicals arising from anthropogenic activities on tropical reef-building corals, which are the main engineer species of reef ecosystems. We aim to identify the combinations of chemical and coral responses that have attracted the most attention and for which evidence can be further summarized in a systematic review that will give practical information to decision-makers. Methods The systematic map will follow the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Synthesis in Environmental Management. We will search the relevant literature using English terms combined in a tested search string in two publication databases (Web Of Science Core Collection and Scopus). The search string will combine terms describing the population (tropical reef-building corals) and the exposure (chemicals). We will supplement this literature with some more obtained through search engines, specialist websites, and through a call to local stakeholders. Titles, abstracts, and full-texts will then be successively screened using pre-defined eligibility criteria. A list of pre-defined variables will then be extracted from full-texts. Finally, a database of all studies included in the map with coded metadata will be produced. The evidence will be described in a map report with text, figures and tables, and a matrix showing the distribution and frequency of included study into types of exposure and types of outcomes will be computed to identify potential knowledge gaps and knowledge clusters.

Most anthropogenic stressors affecting freshwater systems are qualitatively known. However, the quantitative assessment of contaminant exposure and effects to aquatic communities is still difficult, limiting the understanding of consequences on aquatic ecosystem functioning and the implementation of effective management plans. Here, multisubstance indicators based on caged gammarid bioaccumulated contamination data are proposed (for metals and persistent organic pollutants, POPs) to map the bioavailable contamination level of freshwater ecosystems at a large spatial scale. We assessed the ability of these indicators to highlight the relationships between chemical exposure gradients and alteration in the abundance of macroinvertebrate populations on a data set of 218 watercourses distributed throughout France. We identified spatial regional heterogeneities in the levels of bioavailable contamination of metals (18 compounds) and POPs (43 compounds). Besides this, a degradation of Gammaridae, Ephemeridae, and Hydrobiidae densities with increasing levels of metal contamination are identified relative to Baetidae, Chironomidae, and Hydropsychidae. We show here that active biomonitoring allows the establishment of multisubstance indicators of bioavailable contamination, which reliably quantify chemical exposure gradients in freshwater ecosystems. Our ability to identify species-specific responses to chemical exposure gradients demonstrates the promising possibility to further decipher the effects of chemical contamination on macroinvertebrate assemblages through this type of indicator.

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are high-volume chemicals used in numerous industrial applications. Their quantitative analysis is extremely challenging and this work presents the optimization of an analytical method based on gas chromatography hyphenated with electron capture negative ionization time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-ECNI-TOF HRMS) for the simultaneous determination of short-chain and medium-chain CPs (SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively) in fish tissues (i.e. dorsal muscle). The resolution of the TOF-MS analyzer reduced or eliminated isobaric interferences and the CP response was optimized through Design of Experiment. A simple clean-up procedure based on adsorption chromatography further removed some potentially interfering organochlorines. Good selectivity, linearity and accuracy were achieved; method detection limits or limits of reporting were compatible with expected levels in wild fish (0.03-0.35 ng g(-1) wet weight, ww, depending on the congener). This method was proven suitable for the analysis of CPs in tissues of common barbel Barbus, a fish species frequently used for water quality monitoring purposes in Europe. SCCPs and MCCPs were found to be widespread within the Rhone river basin (France). At all locations, MCCP concentrations (1.3-72.7 ng g(-1) ww) were higher than those of SCCPs (0.3-10.6 ng g(-1) ww) and levels were systematically lower than the proposed Predicted No Effect Concentrations (PNECs). Spatial variations of SCCP composition profiles largely surpassed those of MCCPs, suggesting the influence of local sources. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Les sédiments ont un rôle écologique essentiel pour de nombreuses espèces aquatiques. Toutefois, leur capacité à capter les polluants persistants peut participer à long terme à la contamination des milieux aquatiques. Aussi, afin de mieux prendre en compte les impacts écotoxicologiques de la contamination des sédiments et appréhender le risque écologique qui en découle, il est important de disposer de méthodes d'évaluation robustes. Cet article présente la contribution d'un groupe franco-suisse réunissant chercheurs, gestionnaires et représentants de bureaux d'études qui ont travaillé ensemble afin de dresser un état des lieux et formuler des recommandations pour mieux caractériser la contamination des sédiments, les niveaux d'exposition des communautés benthiques et les effets possibles sur ces espèces.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) currently supports chemical and ecological monitoring programmes in order to achieve the good water surface status. Although chemical and ecological assessments are necessary, they have some limitations. Chemical approaches focus on certain substances identified as priorities, but they do not take into account other potentially harmful substances and also ignore the hazards related to contaminant cocktails. On the other hand, while ecological approaches provide holistic information on the impairment of biological communities in ecosystems, they do not distinguish the role of contaminants in these alterations, and consequently do not allow the establishment of contaminant impact reduction plans. Consequently, ecotoxicologists suggest the use of effect-based tools such as biomarkers. Biomarkers highlight the effect of potentially harmful substances (or a cocktail), and their specificity towards the chemicals makes it possible to properly discriminate the role of toxicants within biological community impairments. Thus, the integration of such tools (besides existing chemical and ecological tools) in the WFD could considerably improve its biomonitoring strategy. The B n' B project (Biomarkers and Biodiversity) exposes key objectives that will allow to (i) establish an inventory of the biomarkers developed by French laboratories; (ii) determine their methodological advancement and limits and, on this basis, formulate recommendations for biomonitoring use and future research needs; (iii) discuss the biomarkers' ecological significance, specificity to contaminants and interpretation capacity; (iv) establish, in fine, a selection of valuable biomarkers to enter the WFD; and (iv) propose integrative tools to facilitate the decision-taking by stakeholders.

In highly dynamic systems, such as transitional and coastal waters, establishing their chemical status is challenging. MONITOOL is an exciting European project consisting of 16 Partners covering the Atlantic region from the Canary Islands to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which aims to address this complex analytical challenge, responding to European Directive demands for the assessment of the chemical status of transitional and coastal waters. Diffusive Gradient in Thin Films (DGT), and passive samplers (PS), in general, are already widely used in investigative monitoring and there is an increasing interest in their use for the environmental assessment of water bodies, within European policies requirements. The main barrier hindering the regulatory acceptance of PS for compliance checking is the lack of appropriate Environmental Quality Standards (EQS). EQSs for metals are defined in the dissolved fraction, preventing the use of DGT-labile concentrations for the establishment of the chemical status of water bodies. The first sampling campaigns were performed during winter 2017/2018 in 4 selected sites (transitional and coastal sites) in each consortium region (8 regions). All partners followed the same protocol for sampling and analysis to minimize the operational variability. Priority metals (Cd, Ni, Pb) and other specific metals (Al, Ag, Cu, Cr, Co, Fe, Mn, Zn) were analysed in waters and in the DGT resins. Statistical analysis is being applied to study relationships between metal concentrations in DGT and in grab water samples. Suitable EQS for DGTs will be calculated on basis the statistical relations obtained previously. This will permit a better implementation of the Water Framework Directive in variable systems like transitional and coastal waters. The work presented here shows initial DGT results from the Irish sampling sites for selected target metals.