Comparative accumulation of alkaline-earth metals by two freshwater mussel species from the Nepean River, Australia: consistencies and a resolved paradox [New South Wales]
1993
Jeffree, R.A. | Markich, S.J. | Brown, P.L. (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Menai)
Whole tissue concentrations of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba and 226Ra were determined in Hyridella depressa (Lamarch) and Velesunio ambiguus (Philippi) from a minimally polluted region in the Upper Nepean River, New South Wales. Although the mean tissue concentrations of each metal were comparable between the 2 species, their patterns of accumulation were dissimilar. For each metal, tissue concentration was significantly correlated with tissue dry weight and shell length in H. depressa, but not in V. ambiguus, in which variability between individuals was high and Mg concentration was inversely correlated with tissue dry weight. However, in each species in the Ca concentration was a highly significant positive predictor of the concentration of each of the other metals. The metal solubility relationships, based on the relative increases in the tissues concentrations of each metal over the range of Ca concentrations, held for both species even though V. ambiguus showed no significant increase in tissue concentrations with size. This paradox can be explained as follows. In both species the Ca tissue concentration is a measure of the total influx and efflux of Ca and its analogues through the tissue of an individual over its lifetime; however, in V. ambiguus this total flux is unrelated to mussel size.
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