Metabolite changes in an estuarine annelid following sublethal exposure to a mixture of zinc and boscalid

Abstract

Environmental pollutants such as heavy metals and fungicides pose a serious threat to waterways worldwide. Toxicological assessment of such contaminants is usually conducted using single compound exposures, as it is challenging to understand the effect of mixtures on biota using standard ecotoxicological methods; whereas complex chemical mixtures are more probable in ecosystems. This study exposed Simplisetia aequisetis (an estuarine annelid) to sublethal concentrations of a metal (zinc) and a fungicide (boscalid), both singly and as a mixture, for two weeks. Metabolomic analysis via gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to measure the stress response(s) of the organism fo..