Accumulation pattern of heavy metals in marine organisms collected from a coal burning power plant area of Malacca Strait

Abstract

Nowadays, the marine environment is becoming vulnerable because of anthropogenic pollutants such as heavy metals carried by small particles of fly ash generated by coal burning power plants. Toxic heavy metals such as Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cr were estimated in three types of marine organisms, i.e., Arius maculatus, Penaeus merguiensis, and Anadara granosa, collected from a coal burning power plant area of Malaysia. An independent-sample t-test was conducted to compare the metal concentration in analysed species where significant differences were observed between A. maculatus, P. merguiensis, and A. granosa in the case of Cd, Cu, and Cr concentrations. Moreover, there were statistically significant difference between A. maculatus and A. granosa, as well as between P. merguiensis and A. granosa, in the case of Zn concentration. Similarly, A. maculatus and P. merguiensis, and A. maculatus and P. merguiensis demonstrated significant differences in the case of Pb concentration. Nevertheless, most of the species examined during this study exhibited concentrations that were lower than the permitted guideline. The hierarchical cluster analysis revealed two groups of analysed species where the first group included fish (A. maculatus) and shrimp (P. merguiensis), whilst the second group consisted of cockles (A. granosa). The calculated values of biota-sediment accumulation factor were 0.79, 0.22, 0.59, 0.07, and 0.06 for A. maculatus; 0.62, 2.31, 0.64, 0.05, and 0,04 for P. merguiensis; 5.10, 0.66, 0.79, 0.05, and 0.10 for P. merguiensis in the case of Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cr, respectively. The patterns of biota sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) were Cd > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr for A. maculatus, Cu > Zn > Cd > Pb > Cr for P. merguiensis, and Cd > Zn > Cu > Cr > Pb for A. granosa. However, the BSAFs revealed a higher accumulation ability of heavy metals in A. granosa. Therefore, this species can be used as a bio-indicator of marine pollution.

Bioaccumulation of Persistent Environmental Pollutants (PEPs) in the Mud Catfishes (<i>Clarias gariepinus</i> and <i>Heterobranchus longifilis</i>) from the Ogu Creek, Rivers State, Nigeria

“…The presence of trace metals and hydrocarbons in the tissues of fish sampled therefore indicates allocthonous input of pollutants from industrial and artisanal sources proximal to the creek. Both local (Olowu et al, 2010;Oladele and Jenyo-Oni, 2015) and foreign researchers (Ikem et al, 2003;Alam et al, 2012) have observed that contaminants are introduced into aquatic ecosystems through many routes and sources such as industrial, domestic, municipal run-offs and leachates. Alam et al (2012) and Akan et al (2012) had also reported that effluents generated by various processes in factories and discharged untreated into nearby water bodies may affect water quality and may result in dramatic changes in the chemical quality of the water.…”

Bioaccumulation of metals in fish species from water and sediments in macrotidal Ennore creek, Chennai, SE coast of India: A metropolitan city effect

“…BSAF is a parameter which describes the accumulation of sediment in associated organic compounds or metals into the tissues of ecological receptors (Alam et al, 2012). Based on the BSAF calculated average values for the present study, the metals are ordered as Cd (0.202) 4Cu (0.072) 4Pb (0.042) 4Zn (0.032) 4Ni (0.013) 4Cr (0.004) 4Mn (0.001) 4Fe (0.0015) respectively.…”

Use of Sediment and Algae for Biomonitoring the Coast of Hona&#239;ne (Far West Algerian)

“…The BSAF is a parameter which describes the accumulation of sediment-associated organic compounds or metals into tissues of ecological receptors [35]. In this study, the efficiency of metal bioaccumulation in Corallina officinalis was evaluated by calculating the BSAF, which is defined as the ratio between the metal concentration in organisms and that in the sediment [8].…”