Report: Slag: Metal enrichment and tissue changes in vegetation organisms (1997)»

«Beach snails fertilise growing up on hard soils in the Eulitoral, especially plant-based. The grazed growth or direct absorption of scraped metal particles can lead to a transfer of heavy metals into the screws. Mussels and balanides belong to active filterers, which can absorb dissolved substances or even swirled particles. To some extent, excretion mechanisms (causal and pseudofaeces formation) ensure the removal of these substances from the body. But if the absorption exceeds the excretion capacity, accumulation occurs, which can lead to subletal effects from certain thresholds (Livingstone & Pipe, 1992; Jenner, 1995). [...] As already enshrined in the Chemicals Act, knowledge of the presence of environmental chemicals in different environmental compartments is essential to assess possible hazards. The study of bioaccumulation of substances in organisms is intended to enable an evaluation of the respective bioavailability in the system. In addition, a high potential for bioaccumulation in certain animals allows conclusions to be drawn about possible future risks in the event of an increase in the bioavailable supply. On the one hand, concentration levels could develop in the body that lead to toxic effects when appropriate detoxification mechanisms are lacking or overused. On the other hand, these substances could then also be passed on in the food web, especially if predators specialise in animals with special accumulation behaviour as food. In particular, the transfer of bottom-lived everte roasts to birds deserves attention, as in terrestrial animals, food is generally considered the most important source, such as heavy metals. In order to clarify whether there is an increased bioavailability of heavy metals in the environment of the above-mentioned slag slag, samples of benthic everte roasts and macroalgae were collected and analysed and evaluated on selected metals. At the same time, histopathological studies were carried out to elucidate possible effects. The sampling took place in November 1997 at three sites: Cuxhaven Leitdamm; Norderney port and Watt and Norddeich port.’