Bioaccumulative and conchological assessment of heavy metal transfer in a soil-plant-snail food chain

Chemistry Central Journal

Dragos V Nica²  Marian Bura²  Iosif Gergen³  Monica Harmanescu¹  Despina-Maria Bordean³ 

[1] Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara, Faculty of Agriculture, Timisoara, RO, 300645, Calea Aradului 119, Romania

[2] Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Biotechnologies, Timisoara, Calea Aradului 119, RO, 300645, Romania

[3] Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara, Faculty of Food Processing Technology, Calea Aradului 119, RO 300645, Timisoara, Romania

关键词: Risk assessment;    Food chain;    Heavy metal accumulation;    Environmental monitoring;    Bioindicator;    Helix pomatia;   

Others  :  788131
DOI  :  10.1186/1752-153X-6-55

 received in 2012-03-29, accepted in 2012-05-31,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) can pose serious threats to environmental health because they tend to bioaccumulate in terrestrial ecosystems. We investigated under field conditions the transfer of these heavy metals in a soil-plant-snail food chain in Banat area, Romania. The main goal of this paper was to assess the Roman snail (Helix pomatia) usefulness in environmental monitoring as bioindicator of heavy metal accumulation. Eight sampling sites, selected by different history of heavy metal (HM) exposure, were chosen to be sampled for soil, nettle leaves, and newly matured snails. This study also aimed to identify the putative effects of HM accumulation in the environment on phenotypic variability in selected shell features, which included shell height (SH), relative shell height (RSH), and whorl number (WN).

Results

Significantly higher amounts of HMs were accumulated in snail hepatopancreas and not in foot. Cu, Zn, and Cd have biomagnified in the snail body, particularly in the hepatopancreas. In contrast, Pb decreased when going up into the food chain. Zn, Cd, and Pb correlated highly with each other at all levels of the investigated food chain. Zn and Pb exhibited an effective soil–plant transfer, whereas in the snail body only foot Cu concentration was correlated with that in soil. There were significant differences among sampling sites for WN, SH, and RSH when compared with reference snails. WN was strongly correlated with Cd and Pb concentrations in nettle leaves but not with Cu and Zn. SH was independent of HM concentrations in soil, snail hepatopancreas, and foot. However, SH correlated negatively with nettle leaves concentrations for each HM except Cu. In contrast, RSH correlated significantly only with Pb concentration in hepatopancreas.

Conclusions

The snail hepatopancreas accumulates high amounts of HMs, and therefore, this organ can function as a reliable biomarker for tracking HM bioavailability in soil. Long-term exposure to HMs via contaminated food might influence the variability of shell traits in snail populations. Therefore, our results highlight the Roman snail (Helix pomatia) potential to be used in environmental monitoring studies as bioindicator of HM pollution.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Nica et al.; licensee Chemistry Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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