Species-specific accumulation of methyl and total mercury in sharks from offshore and coastal waters of Korea

Concentrations of methylmercury (MeHg) and total mercury (Hgtotal) were investigated in green leaves of herbs, deciduous and coniferous trees in 9 sites in Slovakia (the transect Žiar nad Hronom – Vtáčnik, Banská &Scaron;tiavnica, Rudňany). There was evaluated the relevance of plant uptake and the behaviour of transfer-factors. The MeHg and Hgtotal in leaves of plants from the contaminated sites in Rudňany (up to 3.21 and 802 ng Hg/g, respectively) were an order of magnitude larger than those from other sites, reflecting the strong Hg contamination in Rudňany’s plants. The MeHg and Hgtotal concentrations in leaves (up to 0.285 and 55 ng Hg/g, respectively) from the transect Žiar nad Hronom – Vtáčnik and Banská &Scaron;tiavnica may be regarded as uncontaminated. The green leaves from Rudňany showed very low transfer-factors (up to 0.09) compared to the transfer-factors from the transect Žiar nad Hronom – Vtáčnik (up to 1.58), and thus indicated the relevance of Hg translocation from soils to leaves on contaminated sites. Generally, much higher MeHg concentrations in leaves of Corylus avellana L., Quercus polycarpa Schur. and Achillea millefolium L. as compared to the other plant species indicate species specific effects that is also confirmed by increased transfer coefficients for relevant leaves (up to 3.48, 2.51 and 0.35, respectively). The transfer-factors can bring up the species specific differences in the Hg uptake by plants.

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Distribution of Mercury in the Sediments and Fishes of the Lagoon of Aveiro, Portugal

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1986.0189 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 18 (4-5) ◽

pp. 141-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

M. F. Lucas ◽

M. T. Caldeira ◽

A. Hall ◽

A. C. Duarte ◽

C. Lima

Keyword(s):

Coastal Waters ◽

Total Mercury ◽

Feeding Habits ◽

Sediment Concentration ◽

Point Sources ◽

The Other ◽

Ecological Niches ◽

Ongoing Work ◽

Superficial Sediments ◽

Significant Point

Dry and wet sieving were compared on their suitability for the size fractionation of bottom sediment samples, collected from a brackish water, coastal lagoon, prior to flameless atomic absorption analysis of the sediment concentration of total mercury. The work aimed at identifying the most important point sources of mercury to the lagoon waters and at assessing the distribution, throughout the ecosystem, of the mercury discharged. The results reported in this paper refer to the lagoon sediments and fishes. Ongoing work is extending the survey to the other inland ecological niches and to the coastal waters and sediments. A chlor-alkali plant proved to be the most important source of mercury but its contribution has not yet been disentangled from those originating at a pyrite roasting facility and a PVC factory operating in the same industrial park. Sewage discharges from the bankside communities are the other significant point sources of Hg. Concentrations of Hg in the superficial sediments ranged from 850 mgkg−1, near the chlor-alkali sewer outlet, to 0.05 mgkg−1 in the intertidal sands of the coastal beaches. Sewage-affected sediments have concentrations of Hg in the range of 1 to 2 mgkg−1. The concentrations observed in the water samples and superficial sediments suggest that some of the Hg historically discharged into the lagoon may have been exported to the Atlantic Ocean coastal waters. Bioaccumulation of Hg in fish tissues shows the usual dependence on species, territoriality, feeding habits and size. Concentrations as high as 25 mgkg−1 fresh weight have been observed but the average values do not exceed the EEC quality objective of 0.3 mgkg−1 (EEC, 1982).

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