THE ROLE OF CHIROCEPHALUS-DIAPHANUS IN THE EARLY RECOGNITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL-POLLUTION BY TRACE-ELEMENTS

A study was undertaken to evaluate whether the fairy shrimp Chirocepha lus diaphanus (Crustacea: Anostraca) could be considered as a species capable of biomonitoring environmental contamination by accumulating t race elements. This preliminary investigation aimed at assessing the l evels of As. Cd, Cu, I-Ig, Pb, Se, and Zn in natural waters as well as in adults and cysts of fairy shrimps sampled from five different site s in central Italy. Trace elements were determined by inductively coup led plasma (ICP)-based spectrometry. In particular, ICP-mass spectrome try (ICP-MS) was resorted to in most cases due to its high detection p ower. Pretreatment of samples (adults and cysts) consisted basically i n the HNO3-assisted microwave digestion of the material. The highest l evels of trace elements were found in the anostracan cysts, with conce ntration ranges (mu g/g) of 0.461-3.11 for As, up to 0.820 for Cd, 2.6 2-13.0 for Cu, 0.011-0.213 for Hg, 0.966-8.46 for Pb, 0.295-2.45 for S e, and 16.4-50.4 for Zn. On the other hand, the lowest concentrations were found in natural waters, with values close to the ICP-MS detectio n power for some elements. These data are probative of a bioconcentrat ion process, the extent of which is proportional to the environmental level of each element. This may turn out to be useful in planning biol ogical monitoring and assessing ecotoxicological consequences which mi ght ensue from the diffusion of the exploitation of such organisms in aquaculture. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.