Trace metals accumulation patterns in a mangrove lagoon ecosystem, Mazatlan Harbor, southeast Gulf of California.

Water, surface sediments, the mussel Mytella strigata, the mangrove oyster Crassostrea corteziensis, and the green macroalgae Caulerpa sertularioides from four locations in Mazatlan Harbor on the southeast coast of the Gulf of California, were analyzed to determine concentrations and distribution patterns of cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, and zinc. Total metal concentrations in water in the present study exceed the background levels in open sea and coastal waters. Total metal concentrations in sediments were ordered as follows: Zn > Pb > Cu > Cd > Hg, but for the bioavailable fraction were ordered as Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd > Hg. The concentrations in bioavailable levels fall between the Threshold Effects Level (TEL), and Probable Effects Level (PEL), criteria for sediment quality. Distribution patterns for metals in organisms were ordered Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd > Hg with seasonal variations for Pb and Zn. Correlations between Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were indicative of similar assimilation and storage mechanisms and common sources of contamination. These correlations also indicated that bioavailability was not simultaneous for Cd and Pb. Bioconcentration factors (BCF) show different patterns in different organisms. For the oyster the metals were ordered Zn >> Cu > Cd approximately Hg > Pb, for the mussel Hg > Cu approximately Zn approximately Cd > Pb and for the macroalgae Zn >> Cu > Pb > Cd > Hg. Based on BCF results in the lagoon system, the oyster C cortezienzes can be used as a biomonitor of Zn and Cu exposure, the mussel M. strigata of Hg exposure and the green macroalgae C. serticularioides of exposure to all five metals studied.