Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:42:16.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adaptation of the Polychaete Nereis Diversicolor to Manganese in Estuarine Sediments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

G. W. Bryan
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory
L. G. Hummerstone
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory

Extract

In a previous paper (Bryan & Hummerstone, 1971) the average concentrations of copper, zinc, lead, manganese and iron in the polychaete Nereis diversicolor O. F. Müller from several estuaries draining the mineralized areas of South-West England were compared with concentrations in the sediments. Although high levels of copper and zinc were encountered in some sediments none contained high levels of manganese and, in the worms, concentrations of manganese were low and relatively constant. Other estuaries in the area have since been examined, but although thousands of μg/g of copper, zinc, lead and arsenic have been found in some sediments, concentrations of manganese exceeding 1000, μg/g have rarely been encountered. Manganese ores occur quite widely in South-West England but the scale of mining appears to have been small by comparison with that for more obvious contaminants of estuaries such as copper, lead and arsenic (Dines, 1956). However, it is thought that the field observations and experimental results described in this paper can be extrapolated to situations where much higher concentrations of manganese occur.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

British Standards Institution, 1961. Methods of testing soils for civil engineering purposes. B.S. 1377. British Standards Institution, B.S. 1377, 140 pp.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, 845–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, G. W. & Hummerstone, L. G., 1973. 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, 705–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chester, R. & Hughes, M. J., 1967. A chemical technique for the separation of ferro-manganese minerals, carbonate minerals and adsorbed trace metals from pelagic sediments. Chemical Geology, 2, 249–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chipman, W., Schommers, E. & Boyer, M., 1968. Uptake, accumulation and retention of radio-active manganese by the annelid worm Hermione hystrix. IAEA Radioactivity in the Sea, 25, 116.Google Scholar
Dines, H. G., 1956. The metalliferous mining region of South-West England: II. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Fletcher, C. R., 1970. The regulation of calcium and magnesium in the brackish water polychaete Nereis diversicolor O.F.M. Journal of Experimental Biology, 53, 425–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groot, A. J. De, 1966. Mobility of trace elements in deltas. Transactions of Commissions II and IV, International Society of Soil Science, Aberdeen, pp. 267–79.Google Scholar
Langmyr, F. J. & Paus, P. E., 1968. The analysis of inorganic sileceous materials by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the hydrofluoric acid decomposition technique. I. The analysis of silicate rocks. Analytica chimica acta, 43, 397408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, J. J. & Stumm, W., 1964. The role of multivalent metal oxides in limnological trans-formations as exemplified by iron and manganese. Advances in Water Pollution Research, Tokyo 1964, 1, 103–31.Google Scholar
Pentreath, R. J., 1973. The accumulation from water of65Zn,54Mn,58Co and59Fe by the mussel, Mytilus edulis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 53,127–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeburgh, W. S., 1967. An improved interstitial water sampler. Limnology and Oceanography, 12, 163–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S. R., 1964. Abundance of chemical elements in the continental crust: a new table. Geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 28, 1273–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar