Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Hydromacrophytes from Five Coastal Lakes (North‑Western Poland, Baltic Sea)

Abstract

The study concerned Polish coastal lakes separated from the Baltic Sea by a sandbar. The study was designed to determine whether the aquatic plants in the coastal lakes in Poland accumulate Cu, Ni, Cd. The material consisted of water and aquatic plant samples collected in the years 2012 and 2013 in lakes Resko Przymorskie, Jamno, Bukowo, Kopań and Wicko. The metal with the lowest content (mg.kg−1) in the plants was Cd, and the concentrations can be arranged as follows: Cd < Ni < Cu (mean 0.46 < 1.91 < 5.56) in 2012 and (mean 1.04 < 1.86 < 4.68) in 2013. For water, the order of concentrations (mg.l−1) of metals was follows: Cd < Ni < Cu (mean 0.0010 < 0.0033 < 0.0035) in 2012 and Cd < Cu < Ni (mean 0.0036 < 0.0107 < 0.0115) in 2013. The metal bioaccumulation in hydro‑macrophytes expressed by means of a bioaccumulation factor (BCF) was as follows: Cd < Ni < Cu (mean 474 < 1447 < 1519) in 2012 and Ni < Cd < Cu (mean 201 < 369 < 542) in 2013. The metal concentrations in samples were found comparable with those in moderately polluted surface waters. Statistically significant regression was only found between Cd concentration in water and in plants (R = 0.3484). Conductivity does not affect metals content in samples. Statistically significant differences were noted between water reaction and the content of all metals in water, and Cd content in case of the plants.

Keywords

• coastal lakes
• aquatic plants
• water
• heavy metals
• bioaccumulation
• hydrochemistry