Abstract
This study determined the concentration and accumulation pattern of REEs in the soft tissue of Saccostrea cucullata with respect to interspatial variability. Variability in the concentration of REEs in soft tissue of S. cucullata was observed in all samples with significant differences among samples associated with sampling sites (p < 0.05). The distribution pattern of REEs’ concentration in soft tissue of S. cucullata is uniformly distributed among sampling sites with enrichment of light REE, LREE over heavy REE, HREE. The same accumulation pattern indicate that REEs are transported as a coherent group in aquatic ecosystem. All REEs yielded positive correlation among each elements in the soft tissue of S. cucullata. Average distribution of REEs in soft tissue of S. cucullata indicated that East Johor has the most abundance of REEs’ concentration compared to Terengganu coastal water. This occurrence probably due to higher urbanization and industrialization activities such as sewage and effluent wastes. ST10 located in East Johor region has the most abundance of REEs while ST4 located in Terengganu region has the lowest concentration of REEs with Ce as the most abundance element and Dy as the least abundance element. The distribution pattern of REEs’ concentration in this study is slightly different. There is significant differences between concentration of all REEs in the soft tissue of S. cucullata in the year of 2013 and 2017 except for La, Ce and Nd (p < 0.05).
Highlights
The rare earth elements (REE) consist of seventeen chemical elements: fifteen lanthanides; lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu)], scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y)
Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu are indicated as light REE due to their atomic mass lower than 153 while Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu are indicated as heavy REE because of their atomic mass greater than 153 [1,2]
There is no report on incidents of human poisoning through food chain, potential concerns regarding effects of continuous exposure to low levels of REEs on human health have been arising. This is due to their accumulation in blood, brain, lung, lymph nodes and bone after entering human body and long-term exposure to REE may be related to health problems such as changes in brain and bone [11,12,13]
Summary
The rare earth elements (REE) consist of seventeen chemical elements: fifteen lanthanides; lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu)], scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y). In the Earth’s crust, the estimated average concentration of the rare earth elements (REEs) is 150 to 220 mg kg-1 with Ce as the most abundant element in the earth’s crust at 60 mg kg-1 and Tm and Lu as the least abundant ones at 0.5 mg kg-1 [3,4] These elements tend to occur together in nature make it quite difficult to separate them from one another and find them in quantities significant enough to support their current heightened demand. There is no report on incidents of human poisoning through food chain, potential concerns regarding effects of continuous exposure to low levels of REEs on human health have been arising This is due to their accumulation in blood, brain, lung, lymph nodes and bone after entering human body and long-term exposure to REE may be related to health problems such as changes in brain and bone [11,12,13]. The use of bivalve and gastropods bioindicators to study pollution in the Malaysian environment has received much attention but not on the distribution and behaviour of REEs [18,19,20,21]
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