Under ice spills of conventional crude oil and diluted bitumen: Physiological resilience of the blue mussel and transgenerational effects

Spillages at sea of diluted bitumen (dilbit) from oil sands have received little attention until now. To our best knowledge, there are no reports on the impact of a severe exposure to dilbit on the Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis). In this study, adult Blue mussels were exposed to one conventional crude oil (Heidrun) and two dilbits (Cold Lake Blend and Access Western Blend) for a period of 7 days in an ice-covered environment and then maintained for three months until the spawning season. The exposed mussels were monitored for aromatic hydrocarbon bioaccumulation, physiological energetic budget, cellular stress, byssus production and gametogenesis. In spring, spawning was induced to characterize breeding success. Bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was detected after three days of exposure, with higher concentrations of PAHs associated to the conventional oil (5.49 +/- 0.12 mu g.g(-1) d.w.) compared to both dilbits (0.91 +/- 0.02 mu g.g(-1); 0.51 +/- 0.03 mu g.g(-1) d.w.). Despite a fast depuration rate and a good resilience of the exposed mussels, significant negative effects were observed at the cellular, physiological and fitness levels, especially in offspring. Our results suggest a higher toxicity of the diluted bitumen compared to the conventional crude despite the lower bioaccumulation of total PAHs. Dilbit treatments caused evident negative transgenerational effects on unexposed F1 generation. Crown Copyright (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study found that blue mussels exposed to diluted bitumen experienced significant negative effects at the cellular, physiological, and reproductive levels, especially in offspring. Despite lower bioaccumulation of total PAHs, diluted bitumen showed higher toxicity compared to conventional crude oil, causing evident negative transgenerational effects on unexposed F1 generation.