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Toxic metals in cyanobacterial mat of Big Lachman Lake, James Ross Island, Antarctica

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Abstract

The northern part of James Ross Island is the largest deglaciated area in the Antarctic Peninsula region with a unique ecosystem created during the Late Glacial. This research aims to evaluate the degree of contamination of the locality with toxic metals (As, Hg, Cd, and Pb) through bioindicators in the aquatic environment—colonies of cyanobacteria and algae. For this purpose, bottom lake sediments of Big Lachman Lake were studied for contents of Fe, As, Hg, Cd, Pb, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn, as well as samples of cyanobacterial mat, in which Fe, As, Hg, Cd, and Pb were determined. Metal contents were determined by means of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrometry. The contents of metals in sediments did not differ from the usual values in the area of the Antarctic Peninsula. The bioaccumulation of metals in cyanobacterial mat was evaluated by calculating enrichment factors (the calculation to Fe as a reference element). According to this method, moderate pollution of Big Lachman Lake was confirmed for Hg and Cd.

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Data availability

The dataset used in this study is available from the corresponding author on the request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the J.G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station for allowing them use of its facilities.

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support they have received from various grants and institutions: The work of Pavel Coufalík was supported by the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the CAS under the Institutional Research Plan RVO: 68081715. The work of Martin Vašinka was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, institutional support MZE-RO1223. The work of Lukáš Krmíček was supported by the Institute of Geology of the CAS under the Institutional Research Plan RVO: 67985831. The work of Radek Ševčík was supported by the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the CAS under the Institutional Research Plan RVO: 68378297. The work of Ondřej Zvěřina was supported by the MUNI/A/1366/2022 research program of Masaryk University. The work of Josef Komárek was supported by the MUNI/A/1298/2022 research program of Masaryk University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Veveří 97, 60200, Brno, Czech Republic

    Pavel Coufalík

  2. Agrovyzkum Rapotin Ltd., Výzkumníků 267, 788 13, Vikýřovice, Czech Republic

    Martin Vašinka

  3. Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojová 269, 165 02, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Lukáš Krmíček

  4. Institute of Geotechnics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Veveří 95, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lukáš Krmíček

  5. Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Centre Telč, Prosecká 809/76, 190 00, Prague 9, Czech Republic

    Radek Ševčík

  6. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Zvěřina

  7. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lenka Brůhová & Josef Komárek

Authors
  1. Pavel Coufalík
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  2. Martin Vašinka
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  5. Ondřej Zvěřina
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Contributions

Pavel Coufalík: conceptualization, methodology, validation, investigation, resources, writing—original draft, funding acquisition; Martin Vašinka: investigation, funding acquisition; Lukáš Krmíček: conceptualization, validation, funding acquisition; Radek Ševčík: validation, investigation, resources, data curation, funding acquisition; Ondřej Zvěřina: formal analysis, resources, data curation, funding acquisition; Lenka Brůhová: investigation; Josef Komárek: methodology, resources, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Pavel Coufalík.

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Highlights

• Cyanobacterial mats and lake sediments of James Ross Island were analyzed.

• Hg and Cd bioaccumulate in benthic cyanobacterial mats of Big Lachman Lake.

• Moderate pollution of the lake with Hg and Cd was indicated by enrichment factors.

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Coufalík, P., Vašinka, M., Krmíček, L. et al. Toxic metals in cyanobacterial mat of Big Lachman Lake, James Ross Island, Antarctica. Environ Monit Assess 196, 43 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12224-3

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