Flow of toxic metals in food-web components of tropical mangrove ecosystem,Southern India |
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Authors: | Ganeshkumar Arumugam Vinothkumar Shanmugam Rameshkumar Sethu Mathivanan Krishnamurthi |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India;2. Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Excellence in Environment Science, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Aalwarkurichi, Tirunelveli |
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Abstract: | The concentration of heavy metals in water, sediment, and various food-web components like plankton, shrimp, bivalve, and fishes were collected from Muthupet mangrove ecosystem. Heavy metal concentration in water samples was relatively lesser than the biological and sediment samples. Among the heavy metals studied, zinc showed highest concentration ranged from 1.81 to 81.5 mg/kg or mg/L, whereas Cd (0–26.06 mg/kg or mg/L) was found to be lesser in all the samples except a few organisms viz. Anadara sp. (26.06 mg/kg), Coilia sp. (10.09 mg/kg), Anguila sp. (9.14 mg/kg), and Tachysurus maculates (6.95 mg/kg) observed during this study. Pb and Cu were ranged from 10.29 to 14.99 mg/kg and 0.59 to 16.06 mg/kg, respectively. The reported values of heavy metals were several folds higher than permissible levels of international regulatory agencies like WHO, FAO, and USEPA. The order of accumulation of heavy metals in biological samples are as follows: Pb > Cu > Zn > Cd. All the biota showed a higher degree of bioconcentration factor for Zn, in the range of 3.90–34.39. Principal component analysis concluded that Muthupet was contaminated by lithogenic as well as anthropogenic activities.Therefore, field observation and sample analysis clearly indicated that sampling sites were polluted with both point and nonpoint source of pollution. |
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Keywords: | heavy metals food-web components bioconcentration factor ecological risk assessment principal component analysis |
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