Dresden University of Technology, Institute of General Ecology and Environmental Protection, PF 1117, 01737 Tharandt, Germany.
Chemosphere. 2010 Mar;79(2):169-73. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.01.015. Epub 2010 Feb 4.
Organic sediments are known to be a significant sink of inorganic elements in polluted freshwater ecosystems. Hence, we investigated the role of invertebrate shredders (the freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex L.) in metal and arsenic enrichment into organic partitions of sediments in a wetland stream at former uranium mining site. Metal and metalloid content in leaf litter increased significantly during decomposition, while at the same time the carbon content decreased. During decomposition, G. pulex as a ecosystem engineer facilitated significantly the enrichment of magnesium (250%), manganese (560%), cobalt (310%), copper (200%), zinc (43%), arsenic (670%), cadmium (100%) and lead (1340%) into small particle sizes. The enrichments occur under very high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon. Small particles have high surface area that results in high biofilm development. Further, the highest amounts of elements were observed in biofilms. Therefore, invertebrate shredder like G. pulex can enhance retention of large amounts of metal and arsenic in wetlands.
有机沉积物被认为是污染淡水中无机元素的重要汇。因此，我们研究了无脊椎动物碎屑分解者（淡水虾 Gammarus pulex L.）在铀矿区湿地溪流中，将金属和砷富集到沉积物有机部分的作用。在分解过程中，叶凋落物中的金属和类金属含量显著增加，而同时碳含量减少。在分解过程中，作为生态系统工程师的 G. pulex 显著促进了镁（250%）、锰（560%）、钴（310%）、铜（200%）、锌（43%）、砷（670%）、镉（100%）和铅（1340%）向小颗粒尺寸的富集。这些富集是在高浓度溶解有机碳的条件下发生的。小颗粒具有高的表面积，导致生物膜的大量发展。此外，在生物膜中观察到的元素量最高。因此，像 G. pulex 这样的无脊椎动物碎屑分解者可以增强湿地对大量金属和砷的滞留。
