Bioaccumulation of cadmium bound to humic acid by the bivalve Meretrix meretirx Linnaeus from solute and particulate pathways

Humic acid is an important pool of heavy metals in sediments. Generally, the presence of refractory humic matter in aquatic systems would decrease the bioavailability of Cd and hence control the bioaccumulation of Cd in benthic animals. In the present work, we applied a suspending system to determine the relative importance of particulate and dissolved fractions of humic acid as Cd sources for the bivalve Meretrix meretrix and to investigate the difference of bioaccumulation characteristics of Cd adsorbed on different fractions of humic acid. The results showed that the bioaccumulation characteristics of Cd from particulate and dissolved fractions of humic acid were apparently different due to biological responses of the clam to the particulates. At Cd concentration of 140 mg/kg, the accumulation of Cd from Cd associated with humic acid mixtures was mainly attributed to the dissolved fractions of humic acid. Compared to particulate fractions, Cd associated with the dissolved fractions of humic acid may be more bioavailable.