Investigating the Role of Invasive Species in the Biomagnification of Heavy Metal Toxicants

Open Access
- Author:
- Grenz, Sage
- Area of Honors:
- Biology (Behrend)
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Samuel Anthony Nutile, Thesis Supervisor
Michael A Campbell, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Biomagnification
C. chinensis
Heavy metals
Presque Isle State Park
Toxicity - Abstract:
- Presque Isle State Park located in Erie, PA is both a large tourist attraction and home to a diverse community of organisms that are interdependent upon one another to survive. Given that Presque Isle is located along Lake Erie, a large body of freshwater, it is susceptible to the introduction of invasive species, one being Cipangopaludina chinensis. Invasive species are known to degrade the overall quality of an ecosystem by outcompeting native species for resources, leading to their endangerment or extinction, in turn reducing the biodiversity of the ecosystem. It is not entirely known, however, the role invasive species play in the spread of pollutants within an ecosystem, such as heavy metals. The objective of this study was to gain insight on how invasive species contribute to the bioaccumulation of heavy metal toxicants within an ecosystem by reviewing current toxicity data available for other aquatic snails and analyzing heavy metal concentrations in C. chinensis, sediment, and water samples from Presque Isle via microwave digestion and ICP-MS. Species sensitivity distributions were constructed for cadmium, lead, copper, and zinc and illustrated toxicity parameters to the various species included. Concentrations of heavy metals, such as zinc, up to 360,000 ng/g in C. chinensis tissues and up to 193,000 ng/g in environmental samples were detected. This suggests that C. chinensis can accumulate metals in high enough quantities to elicit negative or lethal effects on native species of Presque Isle. Pollution of Presque Isle with heavy metal toxicants could not only be potentially degradative to the ecosystem, but could also pose risk to the health of visitors through biomagnification. Understanding the role of invasive species in the introduction of heavy metals is imperative in understanding how to combat the spread of these toxicants and minimize the chance of harm to the surrounding ecosystem and visitors.