| Title |
Bioaccumulation of total mercury in the earthworm Eisenia andrei
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
SpringerPlus, May 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s40064-016-2282-6 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Shirley Le Roux, Priscilla Baker, Andrew Crouch |
| Abstract |
Earthworms are a major part of the total biomass of soil fauna and play a vital role in soil maintenance. They process large amounts of plant and soil material and can accumulate many pollutants that may be present in the soil. Earthworms have been explored as bioaccumulators for many heavy metal species such as Pb, Cu and Zn but limited information is available for mercury uptake and bioaccumulation in earthworms and very few report on the factors that influence the kinetics of Hg uptake by earthworms. It is known however that the uptake of Hg is strongly influenced by the presence of organic matter, hence the influence of ligands are a major factor contributing to the kinetics of mercury uptake in biosystems. In this work we have focused on the uptake of mercury by earthworms (Eisenia andrei) in the presence of humic acid (HA) under varying physical conditions of pH and temperature, done to assess the role of humic acid in the bioaccumulation of mercury by earthworms from soils. The study was conducted over a 5-day uptake period and all earthworm samples were analysed by direct mercury analysis. Mercury distribution profiles as a function of time, bioaccumulation factors (BAFs), first order rate constants and body burden constants for mercury uptake under selected conditions of temperature, pH as well as via the dermal and gut route were evaluated in one comprehensive approach. The results showed that the uptake of Hg was influenced by pH, temperature and the presence of HA. Uptake of Hg(2+) was improved at low pH and temperature when the earthworms in soil were in contact with a saturating aqueous phase. The total amount of Hg(2+) uptake decreased from 75 to 48 % as a function of pH. For earthworms in dry soil, the uptake was strongly influenced by the presence of the ligand. Calculated BAF values ranged from 0.1 to 0.8. Mercury uptake typically followed first order kinetics with rate constants determined as 0.2 to 1 h(-1). |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 41 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 41 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 17% |
| Researcher | 5 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 7% |
| Professor | 2 | 5% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 2 | 5% |
| Other | 9 | 22% |
| Unknown | 13 | 32% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 9 | 22% |
| Chemistry | 7 | 17% |
| Environmental Science | 6 | 15% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 2% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 1 | 2% |
| Other | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 16 | 39% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 May 2016.
All research outputs
#15,374,585
of 22,873,031 outputs
Outputs from SpringerPlus
#935
of 1,850 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#207,823
of 333,293 outputs
Outputs of similar age from SpringerPlus
#101
of 196 outputs
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We're also able to compare this research output to 196 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.