AN ASSESSMENT OF VIABILITY FOR A NEW BIOINDICATOR OF HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN: POTENTIAL OF THE ANTARCTIC SEASTAR ODONTASTER VALIDUS COMPARED TO THE WELL-STUDIED ANTARCTIC CLAM LATERNULA ELLIPTICA

• Main Author: Webb, Alison Louise
• Other Authors: Faculty of Science
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Plymouth 2006
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Austral; Rothera; Adelaide Island; South Cove; Antarc*; Antarctica; British Antarctic Survey
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10026.2/384

Concentrations of Fe, Zn, Cu. Cd, Mn, Cr, Pb, Co and N i were determined from acid digests of four tissue types of the Antarctic omnivorious seastar Odontaster validus and five tissue types of the clam Laternula elliptica, collected from four sites in the vicinity of Rothera Base, Adelaide Island, Antarctica during the austral summer 2005-2006. Significantly higher concentrations of six of these metals were determined within different body compartments of O. validus: Fe and Zn within the digestive tract; Co and N i within the skeleton; Cd within the gonad; Cr from the cardiac stomach. The kidney o f L. elliptica contained significantly higher concentrafions of Fe, Zn, Cd, Mn, Pb, Co and N i than the other organs. It was determined that O. validus would make a good long-term indicator of metal contamination within Antarctic waters. Metal exposure in both organisms was determined to be as a result of background lithogenic metal concentrations, as opposed to serious contamination from the research base. Metals were not seen to biomagnify between L. elliptica and O. validus, although metals were partitioned differently among the body compartments of both species. Cd concentrations in O. validus (64.1 pg g'' at South Cove) were far higher than L. elliptica (6.16 pg g'' at South Cove), and it was concluded these high Cd concentrations were present in dissolved form from the influence of the Antarctic Divergence on coastal regions. High Cu (24.5 pg g'') levels were located from the site adjacent to the runway of Rothera Base, a situation already identified in the literature, although as concentrations were much lower than those seen previously, it was concluded that this survey witnessed the end of this contamination event. Faculty of Science, The British Antarctic Survey, NERC, Cambridge, UK