Metal contamination of Posidonia oceanica meadows along the Corsican coastline (Mediterranean)

Our plain-English summary of Metal contamination of Posidonia oceanica meadows along the Corsican coastline (Mediterranean), by C. Lafabrie, C. Pergent-Martini, G. Pergent (Environmental Pollution, 2008).

The study

• Authors: C. Lafabrie, C. Pergent-Martini, G. Pergent
• Journal: Environmental Pollution
• Published: 2008;151(1):262-8
• Cited by: 42 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine metal (Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb) concentrations in Posidonia oceanica tissues along the Corsican coastline. The results show that except for Cr, all the metals are preferentially accumulated in the blades; this is particularly interesting as it means that future metal analyses may be carried out only on the blades avoiding thus the removal of the shoots. Moreover, they show that metal concentrations may reflect the "background noise" of the Mediterranean Sea. Station 15 (Canari) can however be distinguished from the others due to its high Co, Cr and Ni concentrations. This result may be related to the presence of a previous asbestos mine, located near this station. Therefore, this study reinforces the usefulness and the relevance of Posidonia oceanica as a tracer of spatial metal contamination and as an interesting tool for water quality evaluation.

In plain English

This was an environmental study of a seagrass, not a study of people. The authors collected shoots of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in summer 2003 at about 10 m depth from 16 stations along the coast of Corsica. They measured six metals (cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mercury, nickel and lead) in the blades and sheaths of adult leaves. No asbestos fibers were measured. Every metal except chromium was significantly higher in blades than in sheaths. Overall levels generally fell among the lowest reported for the Mediterranean, which the authors said may reflect natural background levels. Two stations stood out. Station 15 (Canari) had significantly higher cobalt than all other stations, and stations 14 and 15 had significantly higher chromium and nickel. Station 15 also had the highest combined metal pollution index in blades (2.24). It lies just below the former Canari asbestos mine. Citing earlier work, the authors said the mine discharged 11 million tons of rubble into the sea between 1948 and 1965. The authors concluded that the high cobalt, chromium and nickel levels may be related to the mine.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Environmental field survey measuring metal concentrations in seagrass tissue at multiple coastal stations
• Who was studied: Shoots of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica from 16 stations along the Corsican coastline (France), collected in summer 2003 at about 10 m depth. At each station the shoots were split into three replicates, and blades and sheaths of adult leaves were analysed.
• Exposure: Six metals measured in seagrass tissue: cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mercury, nickel and lead. Station 15 (Canari) lies below a former asbestos mine. The article does not name an asbestos fiber type and did not measure fibers.
• Main results:
  • Across all stations, cadmium, cobalt, mercury, nickel and lead were significantly higher in blades than in sheaths (P less than 0.05). Chromium accumulated more in sheaths (P less than 0.05).
  • Cobalt at station 15 (Canari), and chromium and nickel at stations 14 (Saint Florent) and 15, were significantly higher than at all other stations (P less than 0.05).
  • The metal pollution index was highest at station 15 in blades (2.24) and at station 14 in sheaths (0.66).
  • In blades, cobalt and chromium, cobalt and nickel, and chromium and nickel showed highly significant positive correlations with each other.
  • Mercury levels were similar at all stations except station 12, which had the lowest. Lead was highest at station 10, near Ajaccio.
  • Compared with other Mediterranean studies, contamination levels in this study generally fell in the range of the lowest values reported.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the high cobalt, chromium and nickel concentrations may be related to the former Canari asbestos mine. They also concluded that Posidonia oceanica is a useful tracer of spatial metal contamination and a tool for water quality evaluation.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors said that, because little data exist on correlations between trace metals, their correlation results are difficult to interpret.

Related studies

• First results on the study of metal contamination along the Corsican coastline using Posidonia oceanica — C. Lafabrie, C. Pergent-Martini, et al. (2008)
• Utilization of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to evaluate the spatial dispersion of metal contamination — C. Lafabrie, G. Pergent, et al. (2009)
• Heavy Metals in Harvested Rainwater Used for Domestic Purposes in Rural Areas: Yatta Area, Palestine as a Case Study — F. Anabtawi, N. Mahmoud, et al. (2022)
• Serpentine soils affect heavy metal tolerance but not genetic diversity in a common Mediterranean ant — F. Frizzi, A. Masoni, et al. (2017)
• Artificial geochemical barriers for additional recovery of non-ferrous metals and reduction of ecological hazard from the mining industry waste — V. Chanturiya, V. Masloboev, et al. (2011)
• Translocation and bioaccumulation of metals in Oryza sativa and Zea mays growing in chromite-asbestos contaminated agricultural fields, Jharkhand, India — A. Kumar, S.K. Maiti (2014)

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