Metals occur naturally in seawater at low concentrations and some act as essential micronutrients for marine biota, but they become toxic when absorbed or ingested by plants and animals at high concentrations. Despite some recent research on metal contents in seaweeds from Ireland, few data exist regarding the metal contents in Irish coastal and transitional waters. The recent Discussion Document on a National Environmental Monitoring Programme for Transitional, Coastal and Marine Waters by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland proposes the inclusion of seaweeds in an extended assessment of metal concentrations future monitoring programs in Ireland and recommends the monitoring of hazardous substances and contaminants, including metals, by using biomonitoring organisms, such as shellfish and seaweeds. Currently no standardised monitoring protocol exists in Ireland, although some limited biomonitoring of metals using shellfish has been conducted. In this 3-year project, we observed seasonal, spatial and inter-site variations in phenol and metal (copper, zinc, cadmium, chromium) contents and in phenol composition in the ecologically and economically most important seaweeds in Ireland, Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus, demonstrating their suitability as biomonitors of metal contamination. The experimental approach taken in this project established a quantitative link between physiological responses in intertidal brown seaweeds and phenol production, composition, exudation and their potential to bind metals under natural environmental conditions. The effect of copper enrichment and its interaction with salinity, and the effect of iron and zinc contamination were closely investigated. However, neither the intra-cellular phenol content of the seaweed, nor the phenol exudation could be used as biomarkers of metal contamination, whereas the cell-wall phenol content of brown seaweeds seems promising but needs further investigation. This project has produced data on the contaminative status of selected Irish coastal and transitional waters, including sites of active seaweed harvesting by the Irish seaweed industry. Finally some recommendations are proposed for the sampling methodology when using seaweeds as biomonitors of metal contamination, and some general comments on the utilisation of a series of biomonitors (seaweed, animal filter-feeder such as mussel, sediment) to characterise the metal contamination of a site in more detail.

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Connan, S. Stengel, D.   "Macroalgal biomonitoring - applying phenolic compounds as biomarkers for metal uptake characteristics in Irish coastal environments". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=5d1b4cdf-5abb-102c-b8f8-a124ce9eab80 (Last Accessed: 2024-10-10)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=106
Resource Keywords	seaweed, metal, copper, contamination, ecophysiology, zinc, cadmium, chromium, culture experiment, biomonitoring, salinity, Phaeophyceae, phenolic compounds, Ireland, chlorophyll fluorescence
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2007-FS-35-M1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Water Quality
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	Any attached datasets, data files, or information objects can be downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source is properly quoted and cited in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Before downloading, users must agree to the "Conditions of Download and Access" from SAFER-Data. These appear before download. Users of the data should also communicate with the original authors/owners of this resource if they are uncertain about any aspect of the data or information provided before further usage.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	3
Project Start Date	Wednesday 1st March 2006 (01-03-2006)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Tuesday 14th March 2006 (14-03-2006)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Tuesday 2nd September 2008 (02-09-2008)
Published on SAFER	Thursday 5th March 2009 (05-03-2009)
Date of Last Edit	Monday 21st December 2009 at 11:37:24 (21-12-2009)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Monday 21st December 2009 at 11:37:24 (21-12-2009)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Ballyconneely (53°23.42N 10°02.47W) is a marine, moderately sheltered site, situated within the Connemara and facing the Atlantic Ocean with little anthropogenic impact. A. nodosum is harvested on this site for the Irish seaweed industry. Oranmore (53°16.15N 8°57.22W), Kinvara (53°08.28N 8°55.44W) and Finavara (53°09.25N 9°06.58W) are all situated within a Special Protection Area (SPA; Inner Galway Bay; SI No 349/1994) but they exhibit very different environment conditions. Oranmore and Kinvara are located in the inner part of the Bay and present higher nutrient enrichment than Finavara and contain mud on the lowest part of the shore. At Kinvara, a large fresh- ground- water river is emerging close to the castle and the sampling site resulting in dramatic changes of the salinity for the seaweed over a tide cycle: in few hours, this salinity varies between 32.6 at high tide down to 0.5 at low tide. On the other hand, Finavara is a typical marine site. In the industrialized Shannon Estuary, only Ringmoylan (52°40.09N 8°52.42W) is part of a SPA (River Shannon and River Fergus Estuaries; SI No 210/1997). This site is located in the inner part of the Estuary. Foynes (52°36.23N 9°09.26W) is situated in the middle part of the Estuary. At the entrance of the Estuary, Beal Point (52°34.77N 9°37.34W) and Carrig Island (52°34.35N 9°30.28W) are grouped as one site due to the absence of A. nodosum on Beal Point shore. The closest site in the estuary containing this seaweed species was Carrig Island. Cobh (51°51.41N 8°19.57W) is situated in the estuary of Cork Harbour, close to Passage West. It is influenced by anthropogenic impacts. The two sites in France were located in the Bay of Brest, Le Dellec (48°21.05N 4°34.11W) on the outer part of the Bay and Moulin Blanc (48°23.47N 4°25.24W) on the inner part of the Bay close to the nutrient enriched River Elorn and to the military and commercial harbours. At both sites only A. nodosum was present.

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The following is a list of projects, datasets, and resources on SAFER-Data from which users downloaded attachments from soon after downloading attachments from this resource Macroalgal biomonitoring - applying phenolic compounds as biomarkers for metal uptake characteristics in Irish coastal environments. You can view the full description for projects, datasets, and resources by using the links supplied.

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