Integrated use of biomarkers in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis for assessing off-shore gas platforms in the Adriatic Sea: Results of a two-year biomonitoring program Alessio Gomiero a,b,⇑ , Luisa Da Ros a , Cristina Nasci a,b , Francesca Meneghetti a , Alessandra Spagnolo c , Gianna Fabi c a National Research Council – ISMAR, Castello 1364/A, 30122 Venice, Italy b Thetis S.p.A., Castello 2737/f, Venice, Italy c National Research Council – ISMAR, largo Fiera della Pesca 1, 60125 Ancona, Italy article info Keywords: Ecotoxicology Biomarkers Gas platforms Mussels Bioaccumulation abstract Despite a large number of gas platforms existing in the Adriatic Sea, which is a semi-enclosed basin char- acterized by a slow turnover rate and increasing industrial as well as other anthropogenic activities, the effects of these structures on the aquatic ecosystem require further investigation. Since 1998, multidis- ciplinary studies have been performed by CNR-ISMAR to comply with legislation and to support the development of protocols for the monitoring of offshore activities in the Adriatic Sea. The present study was developed to implement a biomonitoring plan to assess the ecotoxicological effects of the extraction activities of an off-shore gas platform. Biomarkers were evaluated in mussels collected from the platform in relation to physiological stress, DNA damage, cellular damage, oxidative stress and exposure effects. Organic contaminants and trace element bioaccumulation were also assessed in the soft body of the mus- sels to correlate bioaccumulation of pollutants with biomarker responses. The results indicate an absence of platform-related environmental stress. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Adriatic Sea is a semi-enclosed basin containing ecosystems that are subject to intensive anthropic pressures, such as unsus- tainable fishing and inputs of environmental contaminants. The major sources of contaminants have been related to coastal indus- trial activities as well as riverine discharges. Since 1960, the increasing presence of offshore gas platforms, of which there are approximately 100 in the northern and central Adriatic, has be- come a further potential source of marine pollution. All operations dealing with the installation and activity of new off-shore plat- forms are currently subject to environmental risk assessment by law. In this context, it is essential to accurately evaluate the ecolog- ical effects of pollutants released by off-shore exploitation and pro- duction activities. The main effluents from offshore and gas platforms during the production phase are of particularly great concern. It is reported that platform-related discharges can contain variable concentrations of chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylphenols and metals. Even considering the occurrence of rapid dilution in surrounding seawater, marine organisms could be exposed to low, but continuous, levels of envi- ronmental pollutants. It is widely accepted that mixtures of organ- ic and inorganic pollutants, even if present at low concentrations, can severely damage the health status of aquatic ecosystems (Caj- araville et al., 2000). This is due, in particular, either to synergic ef- fects of chemical mixtures or real bioavailability. Selective ecotoxicological markers, especially used in connection with chemical analysis, can represent reliable and robust tools to evalu- ate environmental status. Thus, the biomarker approach can rou- tinely be employed to evaluate the impact of anthropic activities (Banni et al., 2005; Da Ros et al., 2007; Dagnino et al., 2007; Nasci et al., 2002; Nesto et al., 2007; Zorita et al., 2007a,b). In the present study, we used mussels as sentinel organisms to assess the toxicological effects induced by the activity of an off- shore gas platform located in the northern Adriatic Sea. To this end, a set of biomarkers at different levels of biological organiza- tion were determined. In particular, according to the results of large-scale biomonitoring programs, such as MED POL and BEEP 0025-326X/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.08.015 ⇑ Corresponding author. Present address: Thetis S.p.A., Castello 2737/f, 30122 Venice, Italy. Tel.: +39 041 2406207; fax: +39 041 5210292. E-mail address: alessio.gomiero@gmail.com (A. Gomiero). Marine Pollution Bulletin xxx (2011) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul Please cite this article in press as: Gomiero, A., et al. Integrated use of biomarkers in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis for assessing off-shore gas plat- forms in the Adriatic Sea: Results of a two-year biomonitoring program. Mar. Pollut. Bull. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.08.015