engleski

Distribution of cadmium and lead in Posidonia Oceanica (l) defile from the middle Adriatic

The aim of this paper was to determine the content and distribution of cadmium and lead in various tissues of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile and sediments at two sites representing distinct degrees of the exposure to human activities (the coastal area of the town of Split - polluted with industrial and urban waste waters and an area far from any source of pollution – Island of Vis). The obtained data showed that leaves of Posidonia accumulate more cadmium than rhizome or root does, which can be explained by their high metabolic activity i.e. that basipetal transport of Cd is more important than slower acropetal transport. However, the opposite behaviour was observed in the case of lead, which accumulation was higher in rhizomes and roots than in leaves. The different behaviour of cadmium and lead suggests different uptake and distribution routes for these elements. As regards absolute metal contents, cadmium levels recorded in this study at both stations generally fall in the range of the lowest values reported in the literature (Campanella et al., 2001), while lead differed according to the tissue examined and the level of contamination of the site. The concentrations of Cd and Pb were measured by the electro thermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET AAS) using an atomic absorption spectrometer (Perkin Elmer 1100B) with a graphite furnace HGA 700 and an auto sampler AS 70. The analytical procedure was checked using a standard reference material (SRM 1646) provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST -USA).

Cadmium; lead; Posidonia oceanica (L); Adriatic Sea

nije evidentirano