Determination of Arsenic content in seagrass Halopila ovalis and Halopila beccarii in Gulf of Kutch, Western India

1. Determination of Arsenic content in seagrass
Halopila ovalis and Halopila beccarii in Gulf
of Kutch, Western India
Priyanka Soni
M.Sc.

2. Contents
• Problem statement
• Introduction
• Objective
• Materials and Methods
• Expected Outcomes
• Future Scope
• Time line and Resources
• Budget Details
• References

3. Problem Statement
Analysing impact of heavy element discharge specially Arsenic near Marine
protected area in Gulf of Kutch, India which can cause a huge problem in
marine environment.
Arsenic can bioaccumulate in marine ecosystem and further cause for
biomagnification through food web and cause severe heath impact to marine
organism like behavioural, physiological, and metabolic changes.
Why Arsenic trace element??

4. Introduction
Background:
• Largest ship scrapping yard is located in western coast of India near Gulf of
Kutch. – health effects like arsenicosis and cancer have been noticed since
1980s. (Khambholja et al., 2016)
• The Average observed concentration in sediment and seawater is 20.01
mg/Kg and 18.75µg/L respectively in Gulf of Kutch which is much more
higher than global environmental threshold scale. Alang, Gujrat, India
Why this location??

5. Introduction
• Seagrasses ecosystems support a complex food web and has been widely used as
bioindicators for trace elements. – no studies done on Seagrasses in this area.
• In this study, Halopila ovalis, Halopila beccarrii will be used as bioindicators to
understand the spatial variation of Total Arsenic in Gulf of Kutch. They are the
widely abundant species in west coast of India.
• Past studies has proved that H. ovalis has shown a positive co-relation to translocate
As in leaves, rhizomes and roots (Ahmed et al., 2015).
• H. beccarri is an intertidal species and H. ovalis is shallow subtidal sp. It would in
interesting to know their rate uptake of As.
Why seagrass – 2 species??

6. Objectives
• Investigate spatial variability and accumulation of Arsenic in H. ovalis and
H. beccarii.
• Assess consumption efficiency of two different seagrass species.
• Find the pollution level by calculating pollution indexes.

7. Materials and Methods
Sampling Area:
• These locations have been selected based
on past studies done on Mangrove
ecosystems for trace metal. (Kumar et
al.,2015)
• 68°20´ to 70°40´E longitude and 22° to
23°N latitude near which is recently
declare as MPA in Gulf of Kutch. 6-8
sites selected based on distance from
contamination zone and one control.
• Water currents – Inside the Gulf – more
pollutants.

8. Materials and Methods
Sampling procedures:
• H. Ovalis – 0.5-1 m & 10-15 m depth subtidal area.
• H. Beccarri – 0.5-1 m depth from intertidal zone.
• Consider the tidal cycle while sampling – could be in
low and high tide.
• Diving/snorkelling, Core Suction Technique to get
samples.
• Rinsed and stored frozen (-20֯ C)

9. Materials and Methods
Digestion and Analysis (Total As Concentration):
0.1 g
Seagrass
10 ml HNO3
1 hr heating
130֯ C
Cooling 1ml H2O2
Sediment Dry at 60 ֯C

10. Materials and Methods
ICP-MS:
Problem: Polyatomic Interference during ICP-MS:
Formation of Ar+Cl- (M:75) can cause an interference in detection of As (M:75)
Solutions for correcting error:
• Use minimum concentration of chlorine.
• Use of Oxygen gas– form AsO+, no confusion.
• Use Dynamic Reaction Cell (DRC) – induce reacting gas like Ammonia, Hydrogen,
Oxygen and methane -> will break polyatomic ions to atoms with different mass.
• Use interference equations or species (Cai et al., 2000)

11. Methods and Materials
Data Analysis:
• Concentration of As within Seagrass and sediments will be compared by
Bioconcentration factors (BCF). Use pair-wise comparison to analyse spatial variability
of As concentration within the sites and different species and univariate analysis will be
done on STATISTICA software. R programming also can be used according to data
complexity.
• Calculate pollution indexes and spatial variation indexes for each site to understand
the variation of As in study area.

12. Expected Outcomes
• Getting acquainted with concentration of As in seagrass tissues by doing spatial
analysis.
• Analysis of As content in Seagrass and compare with earlier analysis done on Mangrove
ecosystem for the same locations.
• Analysis on As transfer from sediment to two different seagrass species.
• A weighted version of pollution analysis by using Pollution Index and spatial
variability index, which will help to give quantitative comparison with global
environmental pollution scale.
• Proposing better approaches and guidelines to reduce anthropogenic causes,
ultimately for a better ecosystem.

13. Further Studies
• Observe seagrass morphological changes due to high concentration of As.
• Further analysis on biomagnification from seagrass to marine organism as
well as human.
• Effects on seagrass ATP production due to interference with phosphate
uptake due to Arsenate.
• Compare As in different part of the seagrass – root, rhizomes and leaves.
• Seasonal variation of Ar concentration in Gulf of Kutch.

14. Timeline and Resources
• Study duration is 6 months.
• 2 resources – Project lead and participant. submission/editing/publishing.

15. Budget Details
Total estimated cost
would be 25430 Euros
approximately.

16. References
Ahmad, F., Azman, S., Mohd. Said, Mohd. I., & Baloo, L. (2015). Tropical Seagrass as a Bioindicator of Metal Accumulation. Sains Malaysiana, 44(2), 203–210.
Cai, Y., Georgiadis, M., & Fourqurean, J. W. (2000). Determination of arsenic in seagrass using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Spectrochimica
Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 55(9), 1411–1422.
Geevarghese, G. A., Akhil, B., Magesh, G., Krishnan, P., Purvaja, R., & Ramesh, R. (2018). A comprehensive geospatial assessment of seagrass distribution in
India. Ocean & Coastal Management, 159, 16–25.
Jagtap, T.G. 1991. Distribution of seagrasses along the Indian coast. Aquatic Botany 40: 379-386
Kanthak, J., A. Bernstorff and N. Jayaraman (1998). Ships for Scrap: Steel and Toxic Wastes for Asia. Greenpeace: Hamburg
Khambholja, Devang & Kalia, Kiran. (2016). Seasonal variation in arsenic concentration and its bioremediation potential of marine bacteria isolated from
Alang-Sosiya ship-scrapping yard, Gujarat, India.
Kilminster, K. (2013). Trace element content of seagrasses in the Leschenault Estuary, Western Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 73(1), 381–388.
Kumar, G., Kumar, M., & Ramanathan, A. L. (2015). Assessment of heavy metal contamination in the surface sediments in the mangrove ecosystem of Gulf of
Kachchh, West Coast of India. Environmental Earth Sciences, 74(1), 545–556.
Komorowicz, I., Sajnóg, A., & Barałkiewicz, D. (2019). Total Arsenic and Arsenic Species Determination in Freshwater Fish by ICP-DRC-MS and HPLC/ICP-
DRC-MS Techniques. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(3), 607. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24030607
Richir, J., & Gobert, S. (2014). A reassessment of the use of Posidonia oceanica and Mytilus galloprovincialis to biomonitor the coastal pollution of trace
elements: New tools and tips. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 89(1–2), 390–406.
https://www.gujaratlaboratory.com/trace-elements-testing

17. Thank You
Questions please…