Significance and interspecific variability of accumulated trace metal concentrations in Antarctic benthic polychaetes

Evaluation and comparison of trace metal accumulation in different tissues of potential bioindicator organisms: Macrobenthic filter feeders Styela plicata, Sabella spallanzanii, and Mytilus galloprovincialis

“…spallanzanii in both nonpolluted and polluted areas. Generally, higher trace metal concentrations were found worldwide in other polychaete species from areas affected by anthropogenic inputs , confirming the low degree of contamination in the area of the present study. As shown in Table , higher concentrations of essential elements compared with toxic elements were found in tissues analyzed (except for As concentrations in the branchial crown).…”

“…These authors postulated that low Pb concentrations of 1.3 mg/kg dry weight in polychaetes might serve as a regional or even global background value for comparison in biomonitoring studies. Although the Pb concentrations found in the present study fall within the baseline range of concentrations proposed by Hans et al [27], we found higher Pb concentrations compared with Cd and Hg in the branchial crown and with As in the tube, confirming that antifouling paint residues arising from boat maintenance and vessel repair activities represent a non-negligible source of this metal in Termini Imerese Harbor (Table 1). A particularly high Pb BAF was found in the tube (Table 1).…”

“…In terms of toxic elements, ranges of Pb concentrations reported for other polychaete species from the German Wadden Sea indicate similarly low minimal values (∼<1.3 mg/kg). This is even more pronounced in data reported from UK estuaries with a documented pollution history and also by reported data from the Mediterranean Sea or a mangrove wetland in India . These authors postulated that low Pb concentrations of 1.3 mg/kg dry weight in polychaetes might serve as a regional or even global background value for comparison in biomonitoring studies.…”

Trace and major elements distribution and transfer within a benthic system: Polychaete Chaetopterus variopedatus, commensal crab Polyonyx gibbesi, worm tube, and sediments

“…It is well established that the accumulation of metals in each matrix depends on several factors. These factors include substratum type, physical and chemical characteristics of the environment, bioavailability of contaminants, feeding strategies, physiology (Rainbow, 2002;Ng and Wang, 2004;Waring and Maher, 2005;Sánchez-Marín and Beiras, 2008;Bird et al, 2011;Hans et al, 2011;Freitas et al, 2012) live stage, among others (Méndez and Páez-Osuna, 1998;Coimbra, 2003).…”

“…The ability to accumulate trace elements, as in most of the other biomonitor species, can be very variable among polychaetes since several factors affect the incorporation/accumulation rate (Davydkova et al, 2005;Waring et al, 2006). Substratum type, physical-chemistry of the environment, bioavailability of contaminants, feeding strategies, physiology (Ng and Wang, 2004;Waring and Maher, 2005;Sánchez-Marín and Beiras, 2008;Bird et al, 2011;Hans et al, 2011;Freitas et al, 2012) and life stages (Méndez and Páez-Osuna, 1998;Coimbra, 2003) are examples of variables that influence the uptake, elimination and accumulation of contaminants. In general, young polychaetes can accumulate larger amounts of metals in their tissues than old polychaetes, due to differences in metabolic demand.…”