Assessment of heavy metal contamination at Tallaboa Bay (Puerto Rico) by marine sponges' bioaccumulation and fungal community composition

Abstract

The water filtering capacity, and the potential to accumulate contaminants such as heavy metals, make marine sponges suitable candidates for biomonitoring of marine ecosystems. Sponges also harbor a variety of endosymbionts, including fungi, which could be affected by the accumulation of contaminants. This work examined the bioaccumulation factors of heavy metals by sponges from coastal waters from Puerto Rico. Fungal communities associated with marine sponges were assessed to determine if their composition co-varied with heavy metals in sponge tissue. All sponges in our study where found to bioaccumulate arsenic, cadmium and copper. Fungi associated with the sponges showed variations in community composition among localities and sponge species. Our results suggest that sponges, specially Tedania ignis, could be used as a complementary component for biomonitoring of arsenic, cadmium and copper; and that members of the harbored fungal communities could be negatively affected by the accumulation of heavy metals in the sponges.