Zn, Cu, Ni, Cd, and Pb in the foot tissue of freshwater pearl mussels from Green Belt rivers of Fennoscandia

Abstract

Margaritifera margaritifera is a critically threatened species in Europe. Metal pollution may be one of the reasons for its decline, but the influence of this factor remains insufficiently studied. Zn, Cu, Ni, Cd, and Pb were determined in the foot tissue of the freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera (bivalvia, margaritiferidae) from Green Belt rivers of Fennoscandia [the Murmansk region (Kola Peninsula) and Karelia (northern part)] and the accumulation of the metals was shown to be variable; however, their levels in the molluscs, being quite long-lived aquatic organisms, do not exceed the established standards of the Russian Federation. The recorded levels of the metals in the foot tissue of the Margaritifera margaritifera can be considered indicators of the background levels of geologic and anthropogenic metal concentrations in the environment influencing the distribution and development of this protected species in the lake-river systems of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia.

Keywords:

• Freshwater pearl mussel
• metals
• foot
• the Rivers Green Belt of Fennoscandia

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to A.A. Zotin for his highly professional involvement in the study and analysis within the framework of state assignment to the Institute of Developmental Biology RAS # 0108-2019-0003; to staff of the Forest Research Institute KarRC RAS who performed the determinations of the content of metals in mollusks – A.A. Golodyuk and S.L. Erofeevskaya, as well as to the Head of the Core Facility of INEP KSC RAS I.R. Elizarova.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

All data are presented in the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The study was financed from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the state tasks of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences [FMEN-2022-0005], [FMEN-2022-0006] and [FMEN-2022-0007] and Kola Science Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences [FMEZ-2022-0008]. The research was carried out with partial funding from ENI-CBC Kolarctic project, SALMUS, [KO1017] «Salmonid Fish and Freshwater Pearl Mussel – Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in the Green Belt of Fennoscandia».