Biomonitoring of Trace Metals (Fe, Cu, and Ni) in the Mangrove Area of Peninsular Malaysia Using Different Soft Tissues of Flat Tree Oyster Isognomon alatus

Abstract

It is well documented that marine oysters are net bioaccumulators of trace metals and they can be employed as biomonitors of time-integrated measurements of bioavailable metal fractions over their lifetime. In this study, the Malaysian mangrove flat tree oyster Isognomon alatus collected from the estuaries of Lukut River (five sites), Sepang Besar River (one site), and one metal-polluted site at Kg. Pasir Puteh were dissected into muscle, mantle plus gills, byssus, and remaining soft tissues. All the four different soft tissues were analyzed for Fe, Cu, and Ni. Significant spatial differences in the accumulated metal concentrations of the oysters were found between sampling sites, and these could be attributed to anthropogenic inputs including discharges of shrimp ponds (Lukut), animal husbandry (Sepang Besar), sewage, shipping, and industrial effluents (Kg. Pasir Puteh). For Fe, the tissue distribution followed: byssus > mantle plus gill >muscle > remaining soft tissues, while for Cu and Ni, both followed byssus > remaining soft tissues > mantle plus gill > muscle. This indicated that byssus could act as an excretion route for the metals. Based on a correlation analysis between oyster tissues and sediments, selected tissues of I. alatus were shown to be good biomonitors of Ni and Cu contamination, while high regulative capacity of Fe in the oyster tissues could hardly reflect the actual Fe levels in the surroundings. However, the clustering patterns based on metal levels in the four different soft tissues were not in agreement with those based on the geochemical fractions of sediment data. This phenomenon which was due to the metal contamination might not necessarily create high bioavailabilities of metals to the biomonitor I. alatus, which might involve differences in uptake, excretion, and sequestration of metals. Similarly to the Mussel Watch approach, this study points to the very potential use of the different soft tissues of I. alatus as biomonitors for regular biomonitoring in the mangrove area of Peninsular Malaysia.

Molecular Impacts of Dietary Exposure to Nanoplastics Combined or Not with Arsenic in the Caribbean Mangrove Oysters (Isognomon alatus)

“…This study used native tropical flat oysters, as they are representative of mangrove swamps [ 57 , 58 ]. Individuals of I. alatus were collected from their natural habitat in Grand Cul-de-sac Marin (16°18′58.1460″ N; 61°32′1.9379″ O), a natural reserve to the north of Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.…”

Assessment and Ecological Risk of Heavy Metals in Sediment and Molluscs from the Mediterranean Coast

“…Also, sediment ingestion can be an important source of heavy metals uptake. However, their uptake from ingestion depends on the association of the heavy metals with particles, their binding strength, and the properties of water such as pH, redox potential, salinity, and the dissolved heavy metal species in contact with the solid phase (Yap et al, 2011). The presented data indicate that the aluminum can be bio-uptake from mud component (r ¼ 0.9026, p ¼ 0.014) rather than from sand fraction (r ¼ -0.9026, p ¼ 0.014).…”

Complete Genome Sequence of a Marine Bacterium, Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes Strain S1, with High Mercury Resistance and Bioaccumulation Capacity

“…Bacteria have been used for bioremediation because they have a high capability for heavy metal uptake under a wide range of external conditions, such as high salinity and the presence of a variety of ions in the marine environment ( 1 – 3 ). On 6 October 2010, we isolated P. pseudoalcaligenes S1 (CGMCC 7.206) from seawater and marine sediment samples in a mangrove conservation district of Shenzhen Bay, China (113.944°E, 22.486°N).…”