Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T17:57:00.760Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Heavy Metals in the Burrowing Bivalve Scrobicularia Plana from the Tamar Estuary in Relation to Environmental Levels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

G. W. Bryan  and
H. Uysal
G. W. Bryan
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth
H. Uysal
Affiliation:
Department of General Zoology, Ege University, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The bivalve mollusc Scrobicularia plana (da Costa) is very common in the estuaries of South-West England and lives in permanent burrows in intertidal sediments ranging from soft mud to fairly hard sand and sometimes gravel. Although it obtains some of its food by filtering the overlying water, Scrobicularia is mainly a deposit feeder (Hughes, 1969). In addition to its widespread distribution, Scrobicularia has several features which make it attractive as a possible indicator organism for metallic contamination. It is more tolerant of low salinities than most common estuarine bivalves, usually penetrating farther upstream than Macoma balthica, Mytilus edulis and Cerastoderma edule (Percival, 1929; Spooner & Moore, 1940; Bryan & Hummerstone, 1977). Also, it lives for over ten years, usually attaining a length of 4–5 cm, and its rate of growth can be estimated from rings on the shell (Green, 1957; Hughes, 1970).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 89 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1978

References

REFERENCES

Akberali, H. B., Marriott, K. R. M. & Trueman, E. R. (1977). Calcium utilisation during anaerobiosis induced by osmotic shock in a bivalve mollusc. Nature, London, 266, 852–853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amiard-Triquet, C. & Amiard, J.-C., 1976. L'organotropisme du60Co chez Scrobicularia plana et Carcinus maenas en fonction du vecteur de contamination. Oikos, 27, 122–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyden, C. R., 1974. Trace element content and body size in molluscs. Nature, London, 251, 311–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
British Standards Institution, 1961. Methods of Testing Soils for Civil Engineering Purposes. B.S. 1377. 140 pp. British Standards Institution.Google Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1971. Adaptation of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor to estuarine sediments containing high concentrations of heavy metals. I. General observations and adaptation to copper. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 845–863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1973a. Adaptation of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor to estuarine sediments containing high concentrations of zinc and cadmium. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 53, 839–857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1973a. Adaptation of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor to manganese in estuarine sediments. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 53, 859–872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1973c. Brown seaweed as an indicator of heavy metals in estuaries in South-West England. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 53, 705–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1977. Indicators of heavy-metal contamination in the Looe Estuary (Cornwall) with particular regard to silver and lead. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 75–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chester, R. & Hughes, M. J., 1967. A chemical technique for the separation of ferro-manganese minerals, carbonate minerals and adsorbed trace elements from pelagic sediments. Chemical Geology, 2, 249–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frazier, J. M., 1975. The dynamics of metals in the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica. I. Seasonal effects. Chesapeake Science, 16, 162–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. F. H. & Rigler, F. H., 1957. The response of Scrobicularia plana (da Costa) to osmotic pressure changes. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 36, 553–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, C. M., Carr, R. A. & Larson, R. E., 1970. The influence of environmental factors on the sodium and manganese content of barnacle shells. Limnology and Oceanography, 15, 461–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J., 1957. Growth of Scrobicularia plana in the Gwendraeth Estuary. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 36, 41–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, R. N., 1969. A study of feeding in Scrobicularia plana. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 49, 805–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, R. N., 1970. Population dynamics of the bivalve Scrobicularia plana (da Costa) on an intertidal mudflat in North Wales. Journal of Animal Ecology, 39, 333–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langmyr, F. J. & Paus, P. E., 1968. The analysis of inorganic siliceous materials by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the hydrofluoric acid decomposition technique. I. The analysis of silicate rocks. Analytica chimica acta, 43, 397–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Percival, E., 1929. A report on the fauna of the estuaries of the River Tamar and the River Lynher. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 16, 721–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rucker, J.R. & Valentine, J. W., 1961. Salinity response of trace element concentration in Crassostrea virginica. Nature, London, 190, 1099–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spooner, G. M. & Moore, H. B., 1940. The ecology of the Tamar estuary. VI. An account of the macrofauna of the intertidal muds. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 24, 283–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theede, H., Ponat, A., Hiroki, K. & Schlieper, C, 1969. Studies on the resistance of marine bottom invertebrates to oxygen-deficiency and hydrogen sulphide. Marine Biology, 2, 325–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar