seagrass; trace elements; in situ experimental contaminations
Abstract :
[en] The Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile has been widely used since the mid-seventies as bioindicator to monitor trace element (TE) coastal pollution. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding to that seagrass contamination and decontamination kinetics. For the first time, Posidonia were experimentally in situ contaminated in 2009, at 10m depth in Calvi Bay (Corsica), by a mix of 15 TE (Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Ag, Cd, Pb and Bi). Trace element concentrations were measured by DRC-ICP-MS in leaves, rhizomes and in overall shoots sampled at regular time intervals.
P. oceanica immediately accumulated pollutants from the beginning of experiments; once contaminations ended, TE concentrations came back close to their original levels within 2 weeks, or at least showed a clear decrease. Posidonia leaves exhibited different uptake kinetics for many elements (Cr, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, Pb and Bi): the younger growing leaves incorporated chemicals more rapidly than the older ones. Rhizomes did not show any clear trend, except for Cu, Zn and Bi. These results demonstrate that Posidonia is a very sensitive sentinel to immediately delineate punctual pollutions similar to what might be measured in contaminated Mediterranean waters. The very good response of Posidonia leaves to pollutant short term expositions suggests their routine use in regularly scheduled monitoring programs. Nevertheless, to by-pass Posidonia leaves deciduous character and their capability to detoxify rapidly, long term accumulation recordings also necessitate below-ground tissues analyses.
Research Center/Unit :
Laboratoire d'Océanologie
Disciplines :
Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Richir, Jonathan ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Océanologie
Luy, Nicolas
Lepoint, Gilles ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Océanologie
Biondo, Renzo ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Océanologie
Vermeulen, Simon
Gobert, Sylvie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences et gestion de l'environnement > Océanologie
Language :
English
Title :
Seagrass response to in situ trace element contaminations
Publication date :
September 2011
Number of pages :
A0 (.pub), A4 (.bmp, .pdf)
Event name :
12éme Congrès de la Fédération Européenne d'Ecologie
Event organizer :
Fédération Européenne d'Ecologie
Event place :
Avilà, Spain
Event date :
du 26 au 28 septembre 2011
Audience :
International
Name of the research project :
Evolution récente de la pollution par les éléments traces dans le milieu marin: cas de la Méditerranée nord-occidentale.
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