Translational Fluctuating Asymmetry and LeafDimension in Seagrass, Zostera capricorni Aschersin a Gradient of Heavy Metals

摘要

Methodology for measuring translational fluctuating asymmetry (TFA) on leaves ofseagrass, Zostera capricorni Aschers has been developed and tested to detect a subtleeffect of environmental stress associated with heavy metal pollution on developmentalinstability. Our analyses showed that concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn,Se) in leaves and roots of the seagrass were significantly higher in the pollutedlocation than in relatively unpolluted locations. We found significant differences inTFA between different locations, showing that the method is sensitive enough to detectspatial differences even within a rather small water body, but these differences werenot associated with a higher concentration of heavy metals, i.e. plants from the pollutedlocation did not show higher TFA. Possibly, seagrass can store heavy metals in theirtissues and protect their development from the toxic effect, or the effect of heavy metalsin the natural environment is confounded by other environmental factors. At the sametime, we found that plants from the polluted location had narrower leaves than in rela-tively unpolluted ones, which may be caused by heavy metals or associated factors.