Abstract
A comparison was made of lead and zinc accumulation by the freshwater isopodAsellus communis exposed to contaminated sediments and water at three different pH levels. Accumulation of zinc was not significant at any tested pH level. This finding was expected, since zinc is regulated by many organisms. Lead accumulation by organisms exposed to sediments from one study site, Weston's Mill Pond, was significant at pH 5.5 and 4.5. At pH 5.5, the rate of uptake of Pb from these sediments was greater than from water. The lead was associated with amorphous iron oxides which undergo dissolution at lower pH values. A weakening of the lead-iron oxide association at lower pH levels (5.5) may have increased the bioavailability of this element toAsellus. Further decreases in pH (4.5) increased the importance of the solute vector in lead accumulation by the organism. Uptake from sediments collected from a second site, the Delaware and Raritan Canal, was not enhanced at lower pH levels.
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Lewis, T.E., McIntosh, A.W. Uptake of sediment-bound lead and zinc by the freshwater isopodAsellus communis at three different pH levels. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 15, 495–504 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01056561
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01056561