Estuaries are the main channels for land-derived pollutants to enter the sea. Under the background of rapid global climate change and intensified human activities, the flux of river pollutants into the sea has increased sharply, resulting in serious ecological problems such as water pollution and ecological damage in estuaries, bays and their adjacent marginal seas. This paper selects the Jiulong River Estuary, which is significantly affected by strong tides, extreme events and human activities, and applied a biomarker tool−coprostanol to trace the environmental fecal pollution, explore the enter the sea behavior (“to”) of fecal pollutants (“source”) in the Jiulong River Estuary after entering the river, and reveal the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and controlled factors (“sink”) of fecal organic matter within the estuary. The study found that the estuarine runoff process and tidal action in different seasons affect the spatial and temporal distribution of fecal organic pollutants, and the tidal process has a greater impact on the occurrence of coprostanol in the water environment of the middle and upper reaches of the estuary, showing a tidal cycle of low concentration at high tide and high concentration at low tide. The occurrence characteristics of coprostanol in the land-sea transport process in the estuarine area are also controlled by the complex water body and sediment dynamic process in the maximum turbidity zone, which has a certain purification effect on fecal organic pollutants. The study also shows that the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of coprostanol in estuarine areas are closely related to human activities by comparing the nutrient inputs from rivers such as ammonia and nitrogen dominated by anthropogenic contributions.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |