Heavy metals are a significant factor when it comes to monitoring the safety of water sources for human usage. Because of this, various ways have been designed for monitoring their presence in aquatic environments. A method that is growing in popularity is using biological indicators, organisms known to uptake toxins of concern in a way that is reliable for the purpose of studying how toxins move through the environment. The common river mussel has gained much attention from the scientific community as a potential bio-indicator because they not only bioaccumulate many different toxins of concern, but its shell also grows in such a way as to facilitate the study of previous years of the environment. Here, we look at two common species of mussels of the Kiamichi River; <i>A. plicata</i> and<i> A. ligamentina</i>. Through them, we determine that heavy metals seen in the river’s sediment and water are bioaccumulating in both the soft and hard tissues of the bivalves which indicate need for concern for the human populace that uses the river for a source of drinking water, crop water, and food. Additionally, we look at the relationship between the tissues and shells to determine how viable it would be to use the shells to study the levels of toxic heavy metals through the recent history of the river.

Biomonitoring of freshwater for heavy metals using river mollusk soft tissue and hard shell

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.