Abstract
Bioaccumulation of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by Macrobrachium prawns was observed to occur in the Strickland River downstream of a gold mine at Porgera, Papua New Guinea. This was despite the total metal concentrations of waters and sediments indicating no difference from reference sites within tributaries. To provide information on potential sources and bioavailability of metals to prawns, an extensive range of analyses were made on waters, suspended solids, deposited sediments and plant materials within the river system. Dissolved metal concentrations were mostly sub-micrograms per liter and no major differences existed in concentrations or speciation between sites within the Strickland River or its tributaries. Similarly, no differences were detected between sites for total or dilute acid-extractable metal concentrations in bed sediments and plant materials, which may be ingested by the prawns. However, the rivers in this region are highly turbid and the dilute acid-extractable cadmium and zinc concentrations in suspended solids were greater at sites in the Strickland River than at sites in tributaries. The results indicated that mine-derived inputs increased the proportion of these forms of metals or metalloids in the Strickland River. These less strongly bound metals and metalloids would be more bioavailable to the prawns via the dietary pathway. The results highlighted many of the difficulties in using routine monitoring data without information on metal speciation to describe metal uptake and predict potential effects when concentrations are low and similar to background. The study indicated that the monitoring of contaminant concentrations in organisms that integrate the exposure from multiple exposure routes and durations may often be more effective for detecting impacts than intermittent monitoring of contaminants in waters and sediments.
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Acknowledgments
This work was primarily funded by Porgera Joint Venture, who also provided logistical support for the fieldwork. The study was also funded by an Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (overseen by Prof. Dayanthi Nugegoda) and a CSIRO Top-Up scholarship (overseen by Dr. Stuart Simpson) awarded to Tom Cresswell. The authors would like to thank Dr. Graeme Batley and Dr. Lisa Golding for editorial assistance with this manuscript and Dr. Debashish Mazumder for assistance with the stable isotope data interpretation. We would also like to thank three unnamed reviewers for their constructive comments on this manuscript.
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Cresswell, T., Smith, R.E.W. & Simpson, S.L. Challenges in understanding the sources of bioaccumulated metals in biota inhabiting turbid river systems. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 1960–1970 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2086-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2086-y