Marine environment status assessment based on macrophytobenthic plants as bio-indicators of heavy metals pollution

The main aim of study was to develop the environmental quality standards (EQSMP) for selected heavy metals: Pb, Cd, Hg and Ni bioaccumulated in the tissues of marine macrophytobenthic plants: Chara baltica, Cladophora spp., Coccotylus truncatus, Furcellaria lumbricalis, Polysiphonia fucoides, Stuckenia pectinata and Zanichellia palustris, collected in designated areas of the southern Baltic Sea in period 2008-2015. The calculated concentration ratios (CR), which attained very high values: 104 L kg− 1 for lead, 103 L kg− 1 for nickel and mercury and even 105 L kg− 1 for cadmium formed the basis for the determination of EQSMP values. The EQSMP values were: 26 mg kg− 1 d.w. for Pb, 33 mg kg− 1 d.w. for Cd, 32 mg kg− 1 d.w. for Ni and 0.4 mg kg− 1 d.w. for Hg. The application of macrophytobenthic plants as bioindicators in marine environment status assessment of certain areas of the Baltic Sea is also described in the paper.