Page 24 - EER-2-2

Explora: Environment
and Resource Trace elements in Mediterranean mussels

production plants and other industrial areas (Section and peer-review process conducted for this paper, either
3.2, Figure 3B). The Adriatic and the Ionian Seas are directly or indirectly. Separately, the other authors declare
also affected by areas of anthropogenic contamination, that they have no known competing financial interests or
mostly of industrial origin, which leads to high levels of personal relationships that could have influenced the work
bioaccumulation of chromium, iron, and mercury in mussel reported in this paper.
tissues (Sections 3.2 and 3.4, Figure 3B). Furthermore, a
natural gradient of arsenic has been observed in mussel Author contributions
populations from the northern to the central Adriatic Sea, This is a single-authored article.
strongly correlated with salinity variations recorded in this
basin as a consequence of the input of large freshwater Ethics approval and consent to participate
inputs from the Po River mouth (Italy) (Section 3.1,
Figure 3B). Not applicable.
Finally, the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Consent for publication
Aegean Sea, the Marmara Sea, and the Bosphorus Strait, is Not applicable.
an area characterized by widespread contamination caused
by highly urbanized settlements, industrial activities, Availability of data
ancient mining sites, and, of course, massive shipping traffic
connecting the numerous islands in the area. This has led All data were based on the already published articles.
to widespread high levels of bioavailability of numerous The new processing protocols are available from the
elements such as cadmium, chromium, iron, nickel, lead, corresponding author upon reasonable request.
and zinc in the tissues of benthic communities, especially References
mussels (Section 3.4, Figure 3C).
1. Lelieveld J, Berresheim H, Borrmann S, et al. Global air
5. Conclusion pollution crossroads over the Mediterranean. Science.
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our understanding of the natural and anthropogenic doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.11.048
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the bioaccumulation of organic contaminants, such as and implications for monitoring the impact of off-shore
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Acknowledgments 5. Coll M, Piroddi C, Steenbeek J, et al. The biodiversity of the
Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, patterns, and threats. PLoS
The author thanks the researchers and the topic of the ONE. 2010;5(8):11842.
studies that he had reviewed and cited in this article.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011842
Funding 6. Burkhard B, Kroll F, Nedkov S, Müller F. Mapping ecosystem

None. service supply, demand and budgets. Ecol Indic. 2012;21:17-29.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.06.019
Conflict of interest
7. Halpern BS, Longo C, Hardy D, et al. An index to assess
Daniele Fattorini is an Editorial Board Member of this the health and benefits of the global ocean. Nature.
journal but was not involved in any way in the editorial 2012;488(7413):615-620.

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 14 doi: 10.36922/eer.8078