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Heavy Metal Concentrations in Water, Sediments andMollusc TissuesDalia Baršytė Lovejoy a

a Institute of Ecology , Akademijos 2, 2600 , Vilnius , LithuaniaPublished online: 23 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Dalia Baršytė Lovejoy (1999) Heavy Metal Concentrations in Water, Sediments and Mollusc Tissues,Acta Zoologica Lituanica, 9:2, 12-20, DOI: 10.1080/13921657.1999.10512282

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12 Acta Zoologica Lituanica. Hydrobiologia. 1999. Volumen 9. Numerus 2

ISSN 1392-1657

HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATIONS IN WATER,SEDIMENTS AND MOLLUSC TISSUES

Dalia BARÐYTË LOVEJOY

Institute of Ecology, Akademijos 2, 2600 Vilnius, Lithuania

Abstract. The highest concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Co, Ni, Cd, and Cr) were foundin water, sediment and molluscs of the Malkø Bay and the Smeltelë River. It was determined that afterdredging the toxic sediment there was a noticeable decrease of heavy metals in sediment and molluscsfrom the Malkø Bay. However, low concentrations of heavy metals were found in the VilhelmoChannel near Klaipëda waterworks. In the same channel near Dreverna the concentrations of heavymetals were much higher and that was associated with the presence of silt in the sediment. This studyshows that bioaccumulation of heavy metals in mollusc tissues is dependent not only on their concen-tration in water but on many other factors as well.Key words: heavy metals, molluscs, bioaccumulation

I NTRODUCTION

Once introduced into the aquatic environment pollut-ants undergo a variety of interactions, which may leadto their activation or more probably to detoxification.The fate of chemicals is mainly influenced by theirstability. Stable compounds may persist for a long timein the environment and therefore, in terms of acutetoxicity they are not so toxic. Less stable compoundschange into more toxic forms or bind to biologicalmolecules within organisms thus causing damage.Pollutants, introduced into the environment, are dis-tributed in water, sediment, and biota. In order to de-termine the concentration of a contaminant, surveysin one of those media can be chosen. However, all thesurveys have negative and positive sides. Pollutants inwater exist in solution, suspension or when they areabsorbed. Mixing or settling of sediment also affectsthe amount of them in water. Both water and sedimentanalysis does not show anything about the bioavailablepart of a pollutant and therefore also about toxic ef-fects (Phillips, 1977).Bivalve molluscs are one of the most suitablebioindicators because they are sedentary, widespreadand have a long life span (Farrington et al., 1983).Despite many studies on the uptake of stable metalsin bivalves, variables affecting the results ofbioindication surveys remain partly unknown. Somedata are available on the effects of season, salinity,water temperature, coexistence of several metals,

organism age, weight, size, and sex on the uptake ofmetals (Phillips, 1977). Metal availability in aquaticorganisms is influenced by many external factors suchas season, pH, hardness of water, concentration andcomposition of particulate matter (Phillips, 1977;Luoma & Bryan, 1979). The total metal concentra-tion in sediment or water does not show the availablepart of a metal and is not useful for the biologicalimpact evaluation. For example, Cd levels in Anodontagrandis correlated with dissolved Cd at the sediment-water interface, but not with the total Cd concentra-tion in the sediment (Tessier et al., 1993). Hickey etal. (1995) reported, that no significant correlationexists between total sediment Hg and As concentra-tions and freshwater mussels Hydrinella menziesi(Unionacea) tissue levels. In another study, Cd con-centrations in the sediment were also not found to beuseful to predict Cd bioavailability. Here, the stron-gest relationships were found between the Cd con-centration in the mussels and water pH, which showsthat hydrogen ions replace Cd ions in complexes andas a consequence in the amount of free available Cdincreases (Campbell & Evans, 1991). Therefore, theassessment of bioaccumulated metals should be madetogether with determination of metal concentrationsin water and sediment.The main aim of this study was to evaluate the con-centrations of heavy metals in water, sediment, and inmolluscs, inhabiting the same sites of the Malkø Bay,the Vilhelmo Channel, and the Smeltelë River.

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MATERIAL AND METHODS

The assessed sitesThree main and one additional sites were chosen for theassessment of heavy metal concentrations (Fig. 1-2).One of the main sites was the Malkø Bay, which waslocated in the northern part of the Curonian Lagoon.The presence of high pollution loads, salt water inflowinto the Malkø Bay, and permanent water interchangemake the situation in this bay very complicated. Tworivers flow directly into the Malkø Bay � the Smeltelëand the Vilhelmo Channel. Urban sewage is dischargedinto this bay. The Malkø Bay is situated in Klaipëda there-fore the port dock area occupies almost the entire bay.In 1995 Environmental protection Ministry decided toallow dredging in the bay in order to make this bay moreaccessible for bigger ships and to build a container ter-minal. Studies on the possible environmental impact fromthis building were carried out. Dredging could lead to agreater possibility of salt water and chemicals intrusionfrom this bay into the Vilhelmo Channel, which servesas the biggest drinking water source for Klaipëda. This

was the reason for closing the channel from the bay inJune 1995 (Fig. 2). The data collected in April 1995,before the closure, and the present data allows to com-pare and elucidate the effects of the closure and dredg-ing. In addition to material collected nearby the drinkingwaterworks, the sampling was made in the VilhelmoChannel near Dreverna.The channel starts at the river Minija, which has a bigdrainage area of agricultural land. Originally the chan-nel was build for shipping in the last century. The ad-ditional site of the assessment gives the opportunity toevaluate the input of pollution from the river Minija.

Collected samples of molluscs, water and sedimentWater, sediment and mollusc samples were collectedin May 21, 1996. Molluscs were collected with a spe-cial dragnet or with hands. Smaller ones were screenedthrough a special device. Totally, 175 molluscs of 6species were collected.Molluscs were taken to the laboratory and were keptin water from the site where they were collected andkept in it until the dissection on the next day. Samples

Figure 1. Map of sites investigated in the Western part of Lithuania. 1 � the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna.The scale is 1: 4000.000Figure 2. Map of sites assessed. 2 � Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworks, 3 � the Malkø Bay, 4 � the SmeltelëRiver estuary, 5 � the Smeltelë River upstream the city. The scale is 1: 19.000

Heavy metal concentrations in water, sediments and mollusc tissues

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14Barðytë Lovejoy D.

of molluscs for the determination of heavy metals weretaken from the Vilhelmo Channel, the Malkø Bay, andthe Smeltelë River. Water samples were taken fromthe same 3 places and they contained 1.5 l of water.Sediment samples were taken from two sites in theVilhelmo Channel and from the Malkø Bay. They werecollected from oxidised sediment layer � 3-5 cm andclosed tightly.Sediment was air-dried in the laboratory. Molluscs weredried at 40-50oC. Analysis for the determination ofheavy metals in mollusc tissues and sediment was per-formed at the University of Manchester, UK by Dr. G.Porteus. Water sample analysis was carried out by Mrs.V. Gudynienë using absorption flame photometer inthe laboratory of the water quality analysis of �VilniausVandenys� enterprise, Lithuania.Statistical analysis was carried out employing PRISMstatistical package. Standard methods were used foranalysing heavy metal concentration: means, SD, t tests.

RESULTS

Heavy metals in waterThe concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, and Co weredetermined in water samples from the Vilhelmo Chan-nel near the drinking waterworks, from the Malkø Baynear the Vilhelmo Channel estuary, and the Smeltelë

River near the motorboat port (Table 1).In almost all the cases the lowest concentrations ofmetals were found in water from the Vilhelmo Chan-nel as compared to water from the Malkø Bay and theSmeltelë River. Concentrations of metals in the MalkøBay and the Smeltelë water were very similar. Onlythe amounts of Pb, Mn, Ni, and Fe were considerablyhigher in the waters of the Smeltelë.

Heavy metals in sedimentAnalysis on the presence of heavy metals was per-formed in sediment sampled in 3 places (Table 2).The highest concentrations of Cu, Ni, Cr, and Zn werefound in sediment from the Vilhelmo Channel nearDreverna. As far as Zn is concerned, its concentrationwas three times higher in the sediment from this chan-nel near Dreverna than in the sediment sampled fromthe same channel near the waterworks and it was about40 times higher than in the sand from the Malkø Bay.Sediment, taken from the Vilhelmo Channel nearDreverna was silt, whereas sediment from the rest twoplaces was sand. The lowest concentrations of heavymetals were found in the Vilhelmo Channel near thewaterworks except for Zn (Table 2).

Bioaccumulation of heavy metals and radionuclidesin mollusc tissuesMolluscs collected in 1996 for the cytogenetic studies

Table 1. Concentrations of heavy metals (mg/l) in water

Location Cu Pb Zn Mn CoThe VilhelmoChannel 0.002 0.015 0.015 0.14 0.01The Malkø Bay 0.005 0.025 0.033 0.13 0.018The Smeltelë 0.004 0.036 0.033 0.27 0.014

Ni Cr Cd Fe SrThe VilhelmoChannel 0.025 0.005 0.002 0.6 0.08The Malkø Bay 0.037 0.009 0.003 0.6 0.22The Smeltelë 0.05 0.009 0.003 1.1 0.22

Table 2. Concentration of heavy metals in sediment in µg/g dry weight

Location Sediment Cu Ni Cd Cr Pb Zncharacter

The Vilhelmo Channelnear the waterworks sand 1.4 ND ND 1.0 ND 05.2The Vilhelmo Channelnear Dreverna silt 3.4 1.8 ND 2.2 ND 15.4The Malkø Bay sand 3.0 1.0 ND 1.4 ND 00.4

ND � less than the detection limit. For Cu the detection limit is 0.02, for Ni, Cd, Pb, Zn � 0.4, Cr � 0.2 µg/g

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were analysed in order to determine the concentrationof heavy metals. The average concentration of Cu rea-ched 5.5 µg/g in specimens of A. cygnea inhabited theVilhelmo Channel near the waterworks. However, thisnumber does not include one individual in which theamount of this concentration was very high � 40.2 µg/g.If it was done the average value of Cu concentrationwould be 7.3 µg/g, though the SD value would be 8.That is why this individual was excluded from the who-le set of calculations. The amounts of Cu, Ni, and Znwere highly variable in the tissues of A. cygnea inhab-ited the channel either near the waterworks or nearDreverna. The only significant difference was foundbetween the amount of Cr: in the tissues of A. cygneafrom the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna the concen-tration of Cr reached 1.3 µg/g and that was significant-ly higher than in the same mollusc species from thechannel near the waterworks � 0.73 µg/g (p < 0.0001)(Table 3, Fig. 3).The concentration of Cu in the tissues of U. tumidusfrom the Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworks was7.6 µg/g. Specimens of this species inhabiting the chan-nel near Dreverna had 6.4 µg/g, which was not sig-nificantly different from the previous result. Althoughthe high individual variability of Ni concentrations wasdetermined in the tissues of Unionidae specimens, U.tumidus have accumulated from both sites on averageexactly the same amount of Ni � 0.9 µg/g.

Concentration of Cr was a bit higher in U. tumidus col-lected from the Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworks� 1.5 µg/g, in comparison with the same species inhab-iting the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna � 0.9 µg/g.The amount of Zn differed in U. tumidus from the channelnear the waterworks (193 µg/g) from the amount in thesame mollusc species from the channel near Dreverna(168 µg/g). However, due to the fact that only 3 indi-viduals of U. tumidus, collected from the channel nearthe waterworks have been analysed, that is not a repre-sentative sample and concentrations of heavy metals inU. tumidus from both places can not be distinguishedas significantly different.Concentrations of metals in the tissues of U. pictoruminhabiting the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna werevery similar to those of U. tumidus. Individual vari-ability of concentrations in U. pictorum soft tissueswas significantly much higher than in U. tumidus. Thisresulted in high SD (Table 3).In one of A. cygnea individual sampled from the chan-nel near Dreverna 0.7 µg/g of Pb was detected. Be-sides, in one individual of U. pictorum from the sameplace 1.8 µg/g of Cd was detected. Moreover in thetissues of the same individual a very high amount ofZn (564 µg/g) was found. However, Cd and Pb werenot measured in any other individuals of the Unionidaefamily. Concentration of Ni was the most variable fromall the metals.

Table 3. Concentrations of heavy metals in molluscs � the average value in µg/g dry weight and SD

Mollusc species Amount of Cu Ni Cr Pb Znmolluscs

A. cygnea 1 8 5.4 ± 1.5 0.5 ± 0.1 1.3 ± 0.3 * 146.4 ± 34.9A. cygnea 2 14 5.5 ± 0.8 1.5 ± 1.7 0.7 ± 0.2 ND 118.5 ± 19.9U. pictorum 1 16 7.5 ± 4.3 2.3 ± 2.9 1.1 ± 0.3 ND 0.200 ± 105.8U. tumidus 1 18 6.4 ± 1.8 0.9 ± 1.1 0.9 ± 0.3 ND 0.168 ± 39.3U. tumidus 2 3 7.6 0.9 1.5 ND 193D. polymorpha 1 28 21.8 2.6 1.2 ND 77D. polymorpha 2 33 25.2 1.6 1.0 ND 121V. viviparus 1 27 42.6 0.7 4.9 ND 139V. viviparus 2 15 22.7 0.9 2.8 ND 180L. ovata 3 11 19.6 3.6 2.8 2.6 52L. ovata 4 2 48.4 2.5 2.7 ND 275

1 � Molluscs collected from the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna2 � Molluscs collected from the Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworks in 21 05 963 � Molluscs collected from the Malkø Bay4 � Molluscs collected from the Smeltelë estuaryND � less than the detection limit. The detection limit for Cu is 0.02, for Ni, Cd, Pb, Zn � 0.4, Cr � 0.2 µg/gCd was found only in one individual of U. pictorum* detected in one individual, see the text

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The levels of 42.6 µg/g of Cu were determined in V.viviparus snails, which were sampled from theVilhelmo Channel near Dreverna and it was almost twiceas much as in V. viviparus from the channel near thewaterworks � 22.7 µg/g. These molluscs from theVilhelmo Channel near Dreverna have accumulatedtwice as much of Cr as those inhabited the channelnear the waterworks (Fig. 3). The higher amount ofZn in viviparous tissues � 180 µg/g was detected inmolluscs from the waterworks area whereas the con-centration of this metal in the channel near Drevernawas 139 µg/g.In the tissues of D. polymorpha from the VilhelmoChannel near the waterworks, the amount of Zn wasalso higher (121 µg/g) than this amount in the same spe-cies sampled from the channel near Dreverna (77 µg/g).As far as all other metals are concerned, except Ni, theirlevels in the tissues of D. polymorpha from both siteswere not remarkably different. Due to a very high levelof variability of Ni amount in other species this differ-ence is possibly not confident.

Figure 3. The levels of accumulated Cr in molluscs from the Vilhelmo Channel

The concentration of Cu in dry tissues of L. ovatafrom the Smeltelë was 48.4 µg/g which was morethan twofold higher than it was detected in the samespecies from the Malkø Bay (19.6 µg/g). A higheramount of Zn was estimated in L. ovata from theSmeltelë as well � 275 µg/g. However, concentrationof Ni was higher in molluscs from the Malkø Bay thanin those from the Smeltelë. Besides, in molluscs fromthe Malkø Bay 2.6 µg/g of Pb was estimated whichwas not found in L. ovata from the Smeltelë.

DISCUSSION

Water qualityThe concentrations of heavy metals in water were thehighest in the Smeltelë River and the lowest in theVilhelmo Channel near the waterworks. The results ofheavy metal concentration assessments in water fromthe Vilhelmo Channel were compared with those of drink-ing water standards, which are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Maximum allowable concentrations (MAC) of heavy metals in drinking water in mg/l (hazardoussubstances, maximum allowable concentrations, and temporary allowable level in the water for consuming,1994), concentrations of metals in the Vilhelmo Channel in 1995 and 1996 in mg/l (Kadûnas & Klièius, 1996)

Cu Pb Zn MnMAC 1.0 0.03 1.0 0.1VC in 1996 0.002 0.015 0.015 0.14VC in 1995 0.03-0.005 0-0.011 0.016-0.052 0.003-0.03

Ni Cr Cd FeMAC 0.02 0.1 0.003 0.3VC in 1996 0.025 0.005 0.0025 0.6VC in 1995 0.03-0.1 0-0.01 0-0.001 0.3-0.35

VC � the Vilhelmo Channel

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17Heavy metal concentrations in water, sediments and mollusc tissues

In the water from the Vilhelmo Channel, Mn, Ni, andFe exceeded maximum allowable concentrations(MAC). However, this does not mean that the sameconcentrations are present in drinking water becauseof sand filtration, which is used in the waterworks.Besides, as only one-time measurements were per-formed, we can not judge for the period of the wholeyear. The attempts to obtain reports from the drinkingwaterworks administration on drinking water qualitywere not successful. Data available on water qualityfrom the wells around the waterworks shows no nega-tive influence of dredging in the Malkø Bay on groundwater quality in 1995 (Kadûnas & Klièius, 1996). Theconcentration range of heavy metals in groundwaterfrom the wells around the waterworks (Kadûnas &Klièius, 1996) was comparable with those from theVilhelmo Channel except for Cd, the concentration ofwhich was higher in the channel near the waterworks.Concentrations of Mn and Ni in groundwater were0.005-0.16 mg/l and 0.01-0.13 mg/l, respectively andexceed the MAC (Kadûnas & Klièius, 1996).The comparison of data obtained in 1995 and 1996,shows that amount of Pb, Mn, and Fe has increasedover one year but the amount of Cu and Ni has de-creased. The decrease of Cu and Ni is a consequenceof the closure of the channel because the amount ofthose metals in the Malkø Bay is high and thereforethey could intrude into the channel before the closure.In order to determine why the levels of Pb, Mn, andFe increased, the activity of all potential pollutionsources along the channel should be investigated andgroundwater quality has to be assessed once morebecause of the possible intrusion of polluting agentsfrom the Malkø Bay. The administration of the drink-ing waterworks should pay attention to the elevatedconcentrations of Mn, Ni, and Fe. In most Lithuanianwaters, high concentrations of Fe and Mn are foundso it can be due to natural background, but the most

concern should be given to Ni and Pb sources. Dataobtained on water quality in the Malkø Bay and theSmeltelë River was compared with data on heavy metalconcentrations in the Curonian Lagoon near Rusnë in1993-1994. This place is nearby the estuaries of theRiver Nemunas, which brings the largest amount ofpollution into the whole Curonian Lagoon (The Reportof the Environmental Protection Ministry for 1994,1995). From the data mentioned above, it was deter-mined that concentrations of Pb, Zn, Mn, Ni, Cr, Cd,and Fe were higher in the Malkø Bay and the SmeltelëRiver in 1996 than in the Curonian Lagoon near Rusnëin 1993-1994. Concentrations of heavy metals in theCuronian Lagoon changed insignificantly over the pe-riod from 1993 to 1995 (Environmental Protection inLithuania, 1996). Therefore, it is obvious that eitherthe Smeltelë brings pollution into the Malkø Bay, whereit is accumulating, or it comes from the port area andsewage discharge. More precise assessments and datamonitoring are needed to determine the exact portionof pollution coming from the referred sources.There are some caveats in all those considerations be-cause the sampling of water for the analysis was car-ried out only once and only two years data arecompared. It is known that water has a very shortpollutants integration period (Phillips, 1977), thereforein order to make definite conclusion, data monitoringis necessary. It was also noted that a monitoring net-work around the waterworks exists but it is not work-ing due to financial difficulties (Kadûnas & Klièius,1996). This network should be set up in the future andpollution sources along the whole Vilhelmo Channelhave to be registered.

Sediment analysisSediment analysis showed that the highest concentra-tion of heavy metals was found in the Vilhelmo Chan-nel near Dreverna. The amount of heavy metals was

Table 5. The comparison of heavy metal amounts in sediment (µg/g of dry weight) from various locations

Place Cu Ni Cd Cr Pb Zn SourceVC nearDreverna 3.4 1.8 ND 2.2 ND 15.4 This studyThe SolwayFirth, UK 5-16 <1 15-62 12-66 36-105 Halcrow et al., 1973

The Looeestuary, UK 65 57 1.3 59 155 329 Bryan & Hummerstone, 1977

VC � the Vilhelmo Channel

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18Barðytë Lovejoy D.

lower than it was in the sediment from the SolwayFirth, UK which is considered to be the control area,and of course it was significantly lower in comparisonwith the Lough estuary sediment which is in the min-ing area (Table 5) (Halcrow et al., 1973; Bryan &Hummerstone, 1977).It is very difficult to compare concentrations of heavymetals in sediment from the assessed locations becauseof the different character of the sediment. It should benoticed that sediment in Dreverna site had high andvery fine silt and organic matter content in it, while inthe other two places the sediment comprised sand. Ingeneral, metal concentrations in sediment increase withthe decrease of the particle size and increase of or-ganic matter content (Halcrow et al., 1973).Therefore, the more precise comparison would bemade only between the sediment of the Malkø Bay andthe Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworks. It is obvi-ous that a greater amount of Cu and Ni in the MalkøBay is the result of pollution.The positive effects of dredging are quite obvious(Table 6). It is clear that the decrease in all metal con-centrations has occurred due to dredging.

Bioaccumulation of pollutants in mollusc tissuesThe amounts of metals in mussels from the VilhelmoChannel were approximately the same except for the

only difference in Cr concentration in A. cygnea. Onthe basis of the difference between the amounts of Crin A. cygnea, it can be stated that the Vilhelmo Channelnear Dreverna is more polluted by this metal than thechannel near the waterworks. The greater amounts ofCr in V. viviparus and in D. polymorpha from theVilhelmo Channel near Dreverna confirm this sugges-tion.The amounts of metals in molluscs were comparedwith those from the related species of A. grandis andEliptio complanata (Table 7). The amounts of Cu, Cd,Pb, and Zn were higher in A. grandis and E.complanata than in A. cygnea from the Vilhelmo Chan-nel. Beech lake and Winnipeg lake in Canada were con-sidered to be clean on the basis of concentrations ofheavy metals in water from those lakes (Hinch &Stephenson, 1987; Pip, 1990), therefore concentra-tions of those metals in A. cygnea were in the range ofnatural variation. Unfortunately, there was no data foundon Ni, Mn, and Cr in molluscs, which were found asexceeding the MAC in water from the Vilhelmo Chan-nel.A notably greater amount of Cu in V. viviparus fromthe Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna can be explainedby its feeding mechanism. This species are detritusfeeders and, as most Cu and Cd are known to be asso-ciated with particles, especially sediment in freshwa-

Table 6. Concentrations of heavy metals in µg/g dry weight in sediment of the Malkø Bay before dredging in1994 and after it in 1996

Location Cu Ni Cd Cr Pb Zn SourceThe MalkøBay, 1994 3-23.4 9-260 0.1-1 5-32 8.3-11.4 20-84 Jokðas & Galkus, 1995The MalkøBay, 1996 3.0 1.0 ND 1.4 ND 0.4 This study

ND � less than the detection limit

Table 7. Levels of heavy metals in molluscs (µg/g)

Molluscs and site Cu Cd Pb Zn SourceA. grandis, Lake 5-80 1-10 4-150 Pip, 1990Winnipeg, CanadaE. complanata, LakeBeech, Canada 7.29 10.98 155.5 Hinch &Stephenson, 1987A. cygnea1 5.40 ND ND 146.0 This studyA. cygnea2 5.50 ND ND 118.5 This study

1 � the Vilhelmo Channel near Dreverna2 � the Vilhelmo Channel near the waterworksND � less than the detection limit

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ters (Trefry et al., 1986), V. viviparus from theVilhelmo Channel near Dreverna accumulated greateramount of Cu than the same snails from the channelnear the waterworks, where Cu concentration in thesediment was lower. The higher amount of accumu-lated Cu in the sediment from the Vilhelmo Channelnear Dreverna indicated the pollution with this metal inthe channel.Unio and Anodonta from the Vilhelmo Channel showedvery similar amounts of accumulated metals. It isknown that Unio and Anodonta�s patterns ofbioaccumulation of Cd do not differ significantly(Hemelraad et al., 1986). The reason for a very highvariability of bioaccumulated Ni amount is not clear.Some laboratory experiments should be performed.L. ovata collected in the Malkø Bay accumulated highconcentration of Ni and Pb in their tissues. They wereeven higher than in the same species from the Smeltelë.It is worth noting that U. tumidus from The CuronianLagoon near Juodkrantë also possessed a high amountof Pb (Porteus & Barðytë, unpublished). Although Pbconcentration in The Curonian Lagoon is consideredto be safe (Report of the Environmental ProtectionMinistry for 1994, 1995) this bay might become a place

of concentration for this pollutant because of the con-stant load of Pb into The Curonian Lagoon and accu-mulation properties of Pb.Data obtained in this study was compared with thatcollected on heavy metals bioaccumulation in molluscsfrom the Malkø Bay in 1995, before dredging (Table 8).Concentrations of metals were lower in molluscssampled in 1996 than in 1995 except for Pb and Cu.The increase in Pb and Cu is a result of either a newpollution load and quick bioaccumulation of those metalsby molluscs or the inability of molluscs to eliminatemetals. It is not possible to determine the reason bas-ing only on two years data.Accumulation of heavy metals in L. stagnalis living inBalaton Lake, Hungary was investigated by Balogh etal. (1988). Their data was compared with data ob-tained in this study. The higher concentration of Znand Cu was found in molluscs sampled from theSmeltelë than those sampled from the Malkø Bay andBalaton Lake. Molluscs from the Malkø Bay had highamounts of Ni and Pb whereas molluscs from theSmeltelë had high amounts of Cu and Zn in their tis-sues, which could lead to the formation of biologicaleffects in their cells.

Table 8. Heavy metals in µg/g dry weight in L. ovata from the Malkø Bay

Time Cu Ni Pb Zn Cd Source1995 13.4 36.0 0.8 229.4 0.9 Lazauskienë et al., 19951996 19.6 03.6 2.6 052 ND This study

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to V. Gudynienë (VilniausVandenys) and G. Porteus (Manchester University, UK)for the analysis of heavy metals in water and sedimentsamples.

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Balogh K.V., Fernandez D.S. & Salanki J. 1988. Heavy metalconcentrations of Lymnaea stagnalis L. in the envi-rons of lake Balaton (Hungary). Wat. Res. 22: 1205-1210.

Bryan G.W. & Hummerstone L.G. 1977. Indicators of heavymetal contamination in the Looe estuary (Cornwall)with particular regard to silver and lead. J. Mar. Biol.Ass. U.K. 57: 75-92.

Campbell J. & Evans D. R. 1991. Cadmium concentrationsin the freshwater mussel (Eliptio complanata) and

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SUNKIØJØ METALØ KONCENTRACIJOS

VANDENYJE, DUGNO NUOSËDOSE IR

MOLIUSKØ AUDINIUOSE

D. Barðytë Lovejoy

SANTRAUKA

Didþiausios tirtø sunkiøjø metalø (Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Co,Ni, Cd ir Cr) koncentracijos 1996 m. buvo rastos Malkøálankoje ir Smeltelës þiotyse gyvenusiø moliuskø au-diniuose, taip pat ðiø vietø dugno nuosëdose ir vande-nyje. Nustatyta, kad paðalinus ið Malkø álankos uþterðtasdugno nuosëdas labai sumaþëjo ir sunkiøjø metaløbioakumuliacija moliuskø audiniuose. Sunkiøjø metaløkoncentracijos Vilhelmo kanale prie Drevernos buvodaug didesnës negu ðio kanalo þiotyse prie Klaipëdosmiesto treèiosios vandenvietës. Ðiame kanale prieDrevernos buvo tirtos dumblingos dugno nuosë-dos,tai ir nulëmë didesnæ sunkiøjø metalø akumuliacijà. Ðiøtyrimø rezultatai parodë, kad sunkiøjø metalø bio-akumuliacija moliuskø audiniuose priklauso ne tik nuoðiø terðalø koncentracijos vandenyje, bet ir nuo kitøendogeniniø faktoriø.Dow

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