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Environmental Pollution 111 (2001) 117±126

www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol

Trace metals in seagrass, algae and molluscs from an
uncontaminated area in the Mediterranean

L. Campanella a,*, M.E. Conti b, F. Cubadda c, C. Sucapane b

aDipartimento di Chimica, UniversitaÁ di Roma ``La Sapienza'', P.le A. Moro 5 - 00185, Rome, Italy
bDipartimento di Controllo e Gestione delle Merci e del loro Impatto sull'Ambiente, UniversitaÁ di Roma ``La Sapienza'',

Via del Castro Laurenziano 9 - 00161, Rome, Italy
cIstituto Superiore di SanitaÁ, Viale Regina Elena 299 - 00161, Rome, Italy

Received 27 January 1999; accepted 11 December 1999

``Capsule'': Baseline concentrations for metals in seagrass, algae and molluscs were established in a clean area of
the Mediterranean.

Abstract

The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were measured in specimens of four marine organisms Ð the seagrass Posidonia
oceanica (L.) Delile, the brown algae Padina pavonica (L.) Thivy, and the two gastropod molluscs Monodonta turbinata Born and
Patella caerulea L. Ð selected as possible cosmopolitan biomonitors of trace metals in the Mediterranean area. The organisms were
collected at ®ve coastal sites in Favignana Island (Sicily, Italy), an area virtually unin¯uenced by anthropogenic activities. In order
to gain a more complete picture of both the environmental conditions of the experimental area and the bioaccumulation patterns of
the selected organisms, soluble and total metal concentrations were determined in coastal water samples collected at the same sta-
tions. The picture of bioavailable metal loads in the dierent sites of the selected area provided by the four species was rather
univocal. An overall trend of increased metal concentrations at the station in which the local harbour is located was clear. On the
other hand, the metal concentrations recorded at the `clean' stations generally fall in the range of the lowest values available in
the literature and may be considered as useful background levels to which to refer for intraspeci®c comparison within the Medi-
terranean area. Implications in biomonitoring of the observed accumulation patterns, especially in the dierent tissues of Posidonia
oceanica, are discussed. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Trace metals; Biomonitoring; Mediterranean Sea

1. Introduction As even closely related species may exhibit dierent
accumulation strategies for trace elements, there is a
The use of biological species in the monitoring of need to identify widespread cosmopolitan biomonitors
marine environment quality allows to evaluate the biolo- to allow intraspeci®c comparison of accumulated metal
gically available levels of contaminants in the ecosystem concentrations over large geographical areas (Rainbow
or the eects of contaminants on living organisms. The and Phillips, 1993; Rainbow, 1995). The present study
analysis of environmental matrices such as water or aims at obtaining more data on the possible use of four
sediments provides a picture of the total contaminant selected species as cosmopolitan biomonitors for the
load rather than of that fraction of direct ecotox- Mediterranean area, i.e. the marine phanerogam Posi-
icological relevance. Thus, the use of biomonitors elim- donia oceanica (L.) Delile, the brown algae Padina
inates the need for complex studies on the chemical pavonica (L.) Thivy, and the two gastropod molluscs
speciation (and hence presumptive bioavailability) of Monodonta turbinata Born and Patella caerulea L.
aquatic contaminants (Phillips and Segar, 1986). Besides their widespread distribution over Mediterra-
nean coastal areas, these species meet some additional
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-06-49913744; fax: +39-06- criteria of ideal biomonitors, being sessile or sedentary,
490375. available all year long, and easy to sample. Another
important requirement is the unambiguous taxonomic
E-mail address: campanellal@axrma.uniroma1.it (L. Campanella).

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