Biomonitoring of heavy metals and organo-chlorinated compounds in a pulp mill effluent using introduced mussels

Abstract

A bleached kraft pulp mill discharges a vast array of substances and special attention should be given to heavy metals and organo-chlorinated compounds. They can persist in nature for a long period of time, are toxic to the wildlife community in certain concentrations, and can be incorporated into the food chain. The aim of this work is to monitor the quality of a bleached kraft pulp mill effluent using filter-feeding molluscs. Transplanted mussels were collected seasonally and analyzed for copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, manganese, iron, dioxins, furans and pentachlorophenol. All of the concentrations in mussels were low even when the mill operated different process types and production, and also during maintenance shut-downs.

How the fluctuations of water levels affect populations of invasive bivalve Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) in a Neotropical reservoir?

“…Generally, mollusc populations present high densities and consequently significant biomass (Mansur et al, 2003;Santos et al, 2012). They are frequently used as biomonitors, because in addition to being sensitive to pollution and eutrophication, they are capable of accumulating several pollutants found in aquatic environments (Darrigran, 1999;Furley and Oliveira Filho, 2000). Molluscs also play an important role in organic matter cycling in aquatic ecosystems (Darrigran and Lagreca, 2005;Vaughn, 2010).…”

Maintenance of filtering molluscs in aquaria for sub-chronic studies

“…Most of such studies utilise the biomonitoring of the organisms in a contaminated natural environment. The organisms and environmental samples are taken to the laboratory and then examined for different aspects, such as the embryo malformation (Klumpp et al, 2002) or quantitative determination of the pollutant agent in the samples collected over a time period (UNEP/FAO/IOC/IAEA, 1992; Glynn et al, 1995;Morrison et al, 1995;Comba et al, 1996;Lauenstein and Cantillo, 1998;Furley and Oliveira Fº, 2000;Boonyatumanond et al, 2002;MetcalfeSmith et al, 2002;Mwevura et al, 2002;Binelli and Provini, 2003;Gardner et al, 2003;Licata et al, 2003;Monirith et al, 2003;Muir et al, 2003;Ueno et al, 2003;Danis et al, 2004;Svensson and Förlin, 2004;Toro et al, 2004, among many others). Artificial environments can be produced with the artificial water and sediments (Egeler et al, 1997).…”