Heavy metal levels in some organisms from the Sinop peninsula of the black sea

Abstract

The measurement of heavy metal concentrations in seaweed and the living tissue of invertebrates is proposed as a rapid and inexpensive technique for monitoring pollution of coastal waters. After introduction into the aquatic environment, heavy metals can be enormously taken up and hence accumulated, thereby having a highly toxic influence on the ecosystem. Such an accumulation of heavy metals can be harmful to the organism itself or can be transferred to the next trophic level of the food web, where its toxic effect may be increased by biomagnification. In this study, the concentration of seven heavy metals (zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, lead, iron and manganese) has been measured in a seaweed, Cymodocea nodosa, and in an invertebrate, Idotea baltica, collected from coastal areas of Sinop, Turkey.