First International Conference on MOLDAVIAN RISKS – FROM ...

<strong>First</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on MOLDAVIAN RISKS - FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL SCALE
16-19 May 2012, Bacau, Romania
RISK EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS OF
SEVERAL FISH SPECIES REFLECTS ON ALLOMETRIC
SCALING DECREASES
Dorel Ureche 1 , Camelia Ureche 2 , Iuliana Lazar 3
1 “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Department of Mechanical and
Environmental Engineering
2 “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Department of Biology, Ecology and
Environmental Protection
3 “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Department of Chemical and Food Engineering
Corresponding author: Iuliana Lazar, ilazar@ub.ro
Abstract: In view of a sustainable development it is necessary to identify species of fish
with an increased risk of being affected by environmental quality. For this, specimens of
Salmo trutta fario, Squalius cephalus, Phoxinus phoxinus, Alburnoides bipunctatus, Gobio
obtusirostris, Barbus Barbus, Barbus petenyi, Barbatula barbatula, Sabanejewia
balcanica, and Cottus gobio were collected at 8 previously determined points from the
Casin River basin in August and September 2004, and September 2008, and grouped into
two areas: upstream Casin region considered an unpolluted area and downstream Casin
region considered a high pollution area. The purpose of this study is to determine the
allometric exponent for identified species of fish, specific to the habitat, and the estimation
of correlations between this parameter and the degree of pollution, in order to identify
species with a high risk to environmental stress. Analyzing allometric scaling values (α)
with specific analytical methods for captured fish populations in these areas we concluded
that the characteristic values of this parameter for some species is strongly affected in time
by the presence of pollutants factors. For some species, the allometric parameter decreased
between 2004 and 2008, but in the polluted zone, the decrease was higher than in the
unpolluted zone. For example, for Squalius cephalus the parameter’s value was
3.0319/3.342 (unpolluted/polluted zone) in 2004 and 2.9888/2.7934 in 2008 and for
Barbus petenyi α was 3.2050/3.2468 in 2004 and 2.7486/2.6217 in 2008. For some species
the changes in the development process were significant, the important decrease of
allometric scaling value indicating that these species were affected by the environmental
stress. In this category must be presented the case of Sabanejewia balcanica, with
remarkable changes: from 3.9547 in 2008 in unpolluted area α value drops to 0.9066 in the
polluted area in the same year. Significant interaction between environmental conditions
and a certain type of species was confirmed by Three-Way ANOVA test (F=3.893, df = 4,
p = 0.019).
Key words: allometry, fish, regression, pollution.
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