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Trace metal bioavailabilities in the Thames estuary: continuing decline in the 21st century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2015

Keera M. Johnstone ,
Philip S. Rainbow ,
Paul F. Clark ,
Brian D. Smith  and
David Morritt
Keera M. Johnstone
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
Philip S. Rainbow*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
Paul F. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
Brian D. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
David Morritt
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:P.S. Rainbow, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK email: philipstephenrainbow@gmail.com
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Abstract

Levels of pollution, including contamination by toxic metals, in the Thames estuary reduced over the last four decades of the 20th century. This 2014 study investigates whether the declines in the bioavailabilities of trace metals (Ag, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) have continued in the 21st century, using a suite of littoral biomonitors also employed in 2001 – the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus, the strandline, talitrid amphipod Orchestia gammarellus and the estuarine barnacle Amphibalanus improvisus. Bioaccumulated concentrations represent relative measures of the total bioavailabilities of each metal to the biomonitor over a previous time period, and can be compared over space and over time. Trace metal bioavailabilities varied along the estuary, and, in general, fell between 2001 and 2014, a reflection of the continuing remediation of the Thames estuary from its severely polluted state in the middle of the 20th century.

Keywords

trace metalsbiomonitoringbioavailabilityThames estuaryFucus vesiculosusOrchestia gammarellusAmphibalanus improvisus
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 1: Oceans and Human Health , February 2016 , pp. 205 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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