title: Spatial and temporal distribution of heavy metal concentrations in mussels (Mytilus edulis) from the Baie des Chaleurs, New Brunswick, Canada.
abstract: Previous studies on heavy metal contamination of the Baie des Chaleurs focus only on industrial centers and overlooked the ecosystem as a whole. To fill this gap, the objective of this study is to establish a baseline of the spatio-temporal distribution of heavy metals in mussels from the Baie des Chaleurs based on the ecosystem approach. Our results show, for the first time, a cadmium contamination in mussels across the south coast of the Baie des Chaleurs and not only in industrial centers. Our results also confirm previous studies showing heavy metal contamination of the Belledune area. This study demonstrates that the use of the ecosystemic approach is essential to obtain a comprehensive picture of environmental contamination in marine ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Département de Chimie et de Biochimie, Université de Moncton, 18 Avenue Antonine-Maillet, Moncton, NB, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Surette
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vaillancourt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008669:Metallurgy; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism*; D049880:Mytilus edulis / Q000378:metabolism*; D009509:New Brunswick; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical