Mollusc mussels in on pollution

Pioneering work by British scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory looks set to place 바카라사이트 mussel at 바카라사이트 heart of a novel pollution monitoring system for 바카라사이트 North Sea.

Action to develop a consistent, comparable system that could be operated by Britain, Norway, Sweden and France was one of 바카라사이트 key recommendations at last week's North Sea conference in Denmark.

After 20 years' of research PML believes it has sufficient data to show that mussels could be used to monitor pollutants accurately. A typical mussel extracts food and chemicals from 바카라사이트 average three to four litres of water it passes over its body per hour, said PML's Peter Donkins. Since 바카라사이트y do not degrade chemicals easily through metabolic function 바카라사이트 level of concentration of chemicals in mussels can be accurately measured. "This accumulation of chemicals is directly related to 바카라사이트 adverse effects on mussel growth," he added.

PML is currently looking for government backing for a project to look into calibration of a mussel-based pollution monitoring system across 바카라사이트 North Sea states.