engleski

The North Adriatic: Past and Present Natural Events and Antropogenic Impact II: Reflection on Biomineralization

Biomineralization is a complex combination of biochemical and physiological processes, depending on endogenous activity of an organism and the exogenous environmental influence. In all marine organisms biomineralization starts in early stages of development and continues throughout the entire life. These processes take place in different tissues, shells and skeletons, and are manifested in calcification, decalcification and in polymorph transformation of calcium carbonate in particular shell or skeleton layers. The calcareous skeletons of the marine organisms act as concentrators of dissolved minor polluting elements in seawater, permitting easier analysis and more reliable measurements than those carried out directly on the water or on soft tissues. The minor elements, including heavy metals and organic molecules, are incorporated in the calcareous structure through isomorphism. For this reason, the shells and skeletons are stable and can be used as bioindicators of different forms of contamination in the sea. This ecological study correlates extreme natural events or harmful environmental factors (lack of oxygen, toxic algal blooms, heavy metals, organic pollutants, antifouling paints) with disease, deformation, mutagenicity or genotoxicity in marine organisms. Furthermore, in this present research the interaction between changed environmental factors, pollutants and biomineralization, calcification processes and mineral composition of marine organisms have been described.

North Adriatic; biomineralization; environmental factors; pollutants; bioindicators

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