Comparative bioaccumulation kinetics of trace elements in Mediterranean marine sponges.
While marine organisms such as bivalves, seagrasses and macroalgae are commonly used as biomonitors for the environment pollution assessment, widely distributed sponges received little attention as potential helpful species for monitoring programmes. In this study, the trace element and radionuclide bioaccumulation and retention capacities of some marine sponges were estimated in a species-comparative study using radiotracers technique. Six Mediterranean species were exposed to background dissolved concentrations of (110m)Ag, (241)Am, (109)Cd, (60)Co, (134)Cs, (54)Mn, (75)Se and (65)Zn allowing the assessment of the uptake and depuration kinetics for selected elements. Globally, massive demosponges Agelas oroides, Chondrosia reniformis and Ircinia variabilis displayed higher concentration factor (CF) than the erectile ones (Acanthella acuta, Cymbaxinella damicornis, Cymbaxinella verrucosa) at the end of exposure, suggesting that the morphology is a key factor in the metal bioaccumulation efficiency. Considering this observation, two exceptions were noted: (1) A. acuta reached the highest CF for (110m)Ag and strongly retained the accumulated metal without significant Ag loss when placed in depuration conditions and (2) C. reniformis did not accumulate Se as much as A. oroides and I. variabilis. These results suggest that peculiar metal uptake properties in sponges could be driven by specific metabolites or contrasting biosilification processes between species, respectively. This study demonstrated that sponges could be considered as valuable candidate for biomonitoring metal contamination but also that there is a need to experimentally highlight metal-dependant characteristic among species.
University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Nice Institute of Chemistry-PCRE, UMR 7272 CNRS, Faculté des Science, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 02, France.
Grégory
G
Genta-Jouve
Nadja
N
Cachet
François
F
Oberhänsli
Charlotte
C
Noyer
Jean-Louis
JL
Teyssié
Olivier P
OP
Thomas
Thomas
T
Lacoue-Labarthe
D000818:Animals; D007700:Kinetics; D011161:Porifera / Q000378:metabolism*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
D011868:Radioisotopes; D014131:Trace Elements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical