Catchment to Reef Research Group, Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia,
Environ Monit Assess. 2013 Nov;185(11):9089-99. doi: 10.1007/s10661-013-3238-8. Epub 2013 May 31.
Marine ecosystems worldwide are threatened by aquatic pollution; however, there is a paucity in data from the Caribbean region. As such, five heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, zinc, mercury) were measured in tissues of the scleractinian corals Porites furcata and Agaricia tenuifolia and in adjacent sediments in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama. Samples were collected from five reef sites along a gradient of distance from an international shipping port and were analysed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrophotometry for mercury. Copper and zinc were the most abundant metals and ranged from 11 to 63 mg kg(-1) and from 31 to 185 mg kg(-1) in coral tissues, respectively. The highest concentration of each metal was measured in P. furcata tissues, with copper and mercury concentrations significantly higher in P. furcata than in A. tenuifolia at every site. These results suggest that P. furcata has a higher affinity for metal accumulation and storage than A. tenuifolia. With the exception of cadmium, metal concentrations in coral tissues were generally elevated at coral reefs in closer proximity to the port; however, this pattern was not observed in sediments. Hard coral cover was lowest at reefs in closest proximity to the port, suggesting that metal pollution from port-related activities is influencing hard coral abundance at nearby coral reefs.
全球海洋生态系统受到水生污染的威胁；然而，加勒比地区的数据却很少。因此，在巴拿马博卡斯德尔托罗群岛，研究人员测量了石珊瑚 Porites furcata 和 Agaricia tenuifolia 组织以及相邻沉积物中的五种重金属（砷、镉、铜、锌、汞）。从距离国际航运港口的距离梯度上的五个珊瑚礁地点采集了样本，并使用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法和原子吸收分光光度法分析了汞。铜和锌是最丰富的金属，分别在珊瑚组织中为 11 至 63 毫克/千克和 31 至 185 毫克/千克。每种金属的最高浓度都在 P. furcata 组织中测量到，在每个地点，P. furcata 组织中的铜和汞浓度都明显高于 A. tenuifolia。这些结果表明，P. furcata 比 A. tenuifolia 对金属积累和储存具有更高的亲和力。除了镉以外，在距离港口较近的珊瑚礁中，珊瑚组织中的金属浓度通常较高；然而，这种模式在沉积物中并未观察到。距离港口最近的珊瑚礁中的硬珊瑚覆盖率最低，表明与港口活动相关的金属污染正在影响附近珊瑚礁中的硬珊瑚丰度。
