Relationships between sediment physico-chemical characteristics and heavy metal bioaccumulation in Mediterranean soft-bottom macrophytes

Abstract Concentrations of Hg, Cd, Pb and Zn in the two seagrasses ( Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa ), green alga Caulerpa prolifera and sediment and some physico-chemical characteristics of the sediment (organic matter, fine fraction (particles Significant correlations between the concentrations of metals in the plants and sediment (alone or normalized with respect to the physico-chemical characteristics) were usually found for Hg and Zn. For Pb only C . prolifera fractions were correlated to the Pb content of the sediment. For Cd no significant correlations were obtained between the metal in the plants and sediment. The concentration factors of the metals in the plants with respe…