Study on the contamination of heavy metals and their correlations in mollusks collected from coastal sites along the Chinese Bohai Sea.
Mollusks living in seas can accumulate heavy metals, and may serve as excellent passive biomonitors. During a period of 1 year, bioaccumulation of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn was examined in nine kinds of mollusks (Rapana venosa, Neverita didyma, Scapharca subcrenata, Mytilus edulis, Amusium, Crassostrea talienwhanensis, Meretix meretrix, Ruditapes philippinarum, and Mactra veneriformis), which were collected at eight coastal sites along the Chinese Bohai Sea. Metal concentrations were directly determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Two certified reference materials, dogfish muscle (DORM-2) and mussel (GBW 08571), were used to validate the methods, and the recoveries were within 83.72-112.30% of the certified values. Bioaccumulation of metals varied strongly among sampling sites and species. Statistical analysis (one-way ANOVA) indicated that different species examined showed different bioaccumulation of metals, and perhaps they could be used as potential biomonitors to investigate the contamination levels of heavy metals. Principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis were used to study the relationships between these heavy metals. The results showed that, in nine mollusks' tissues, there are significant correlations between these elements in adjacent main group or subgroup in periodic table of elements.
Wang
Yawei
Y
State key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China.
Liang
Lina
L
Shi
Jianbo
J
Jiang
Guibin
G
D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008974:Mollusca / Q000737:chemistry*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014873:Water Pollutants