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Biofilms as bio-indicator for polluted waters?

Total reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis of biofilms of the Tisza river (Hungary)

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the heavy metal accumulation by natural biofilms living in the catchment area of the Tisza river in Hungary, as well as in biofilms cultivated in vitro. Laboratory tests have demonstrated that metals can be adsorbed on biofilms, depending on their concentration and on the availability of free sorptive places. Biofilms were cultivated in vitro in natural freshwater from the Saale river, Germany. After reaching the plateau phase, Cu was added to reach a concentration of 100 µg/L. An increase of its mass fraction in the biofilm was observed, which caused the decrease of the concentration in the water phase. Unfortunately, the reactor wall was also found to act as adsorbent for Cu. More detailed results of our in vitro experiments will be published in a forthcoming paper. Naturally grown biofilm samples from exposed as well as background places at the Hungarian rivers Szamos and Tisza were collected in 2000 and 2002 after the cyanide spill, and analysed using total reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis (TXRF). Metal mass fraction differences as high as two orders of magnitude were found between polluted and unpolluted (background) sampling points. Extremely high concentration values, e.g. 5600 µg/g Zn in biofilm, were found at highly polluted sampling points. This means an enrichment factor of ca. 10,000 compared to the water phase.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful for the financial support of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., the Internationales Büro des BMBF, Bonn (project number HUN 01/001), as well as the Hungarian Foundation for Science and Technology (TéT) and the Hungarian Ministry of Education (project number D-17/01). Mihály Óvári would like to thank the EU Commission for the financial support in the course of the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, contract number HPMF-CT-2002-01740. The authors also thank Mrs. Ute Kuhlicke for the confocal laser scanning microscopy investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Inland Water Research Magdeburg, UFZ Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle, Brückstrasse 3a, 39114, Magdeburg, Germany

    Margarete Mages, Mihály Óvári & Wolf v. Tümpling Jr

  2. Department of Chemical Technology and Environmental Chemistry, Eötvös University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, 1117, Budapest, Hungary

    Krisztina Kröpfl

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  1. Margarete Mages
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  2. Mihály Óvári
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  3. Wolf v. Tümpling Jr
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  4. Krisztina Kröpfl
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Correspondence to Margarete Mages.

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Mages, M., Óvári, M., v. Tümpling, W. et al. Biofilms as bio-indicator for polluted waters?. Anal Bioanal Chem 378, 1095–1101 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2291-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-2291-5

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