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SHORT COMMUNICATION

Zinc Accumulation by the Slime Mold Fuligo septica (L.) Wiggers in the Former Soviet Union and North Korea

^a Rostov Univ., Rostov-on-Don, Russia
^b UNEP GEMS/Water Collaborating Centre, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 3H5
^c Centre for Preparation and Implementation of International Projects on Technical Assistance (CPPI), North Caucasus Branch, 200/1 Stachki Ave., Office 301, Rostov-on-Don, 344104, Russia
^d Aquatest Ltd., Zhuravleva str., 44, Rostov-on-Don, 344022, Russia
^e Moscow State Univ., Vorobevy Gory, Moscow, 119899, Russia
^f National Water Research Inst., Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 3H5

* Corresponding author (richard.robarts{at}ec.gc.ca)

Received for publication January 3, 2001. Samples of the slime mold Fuligo septica (L.) Wiggers were collected from an ecologically diverse selection of sites across the former USSR and in North Korea to determine their Zn concentrations. Plasmodia were collected from trees, rocks, soils, the walls of buildings and a variety of other materials and structures from 1990 to 1996. The biomass collected ranged from 305 to 968 mg, whereas Zn concentrations in plasmodia of F. septica ranged from 8400 to 23000 mg kg^-1 dry wt. (mean and standard error = 14200 ± 860 mg kg^-1 dry wt.). No clear trend as to which areas produced F. septica with the highest Zn concentrations was discernable. Nor was it possible to identify any particular substrate on which F. septica grew that produced noticeably high Zn concentrations. For example, forest litter on which F. septica was found had Zn concentrations of only 25 to 130 mg kg^-1 dry wt. Our data confirm the only other study showing hyperaccumulation of Zn in F. septica, which was carried out in Finland. This ability seems to be unique to this species, but how or why it does this, or why such high Zn concentrations are not toxic to F. septica, are questions requiring future research.

Abbreviations: GFAAS, graphite-furnace atomic-absorption spectrophotometry

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This Issue in Journal of Environmental Quality

JEQ 2002 31: 705-710. [Full Text]