Effect of Silver on Aquatic Ecosystems of Emet Stream Basin, Turkey

Abstract

Emet Stream is one of the most important branches of Uluabat Lake (Ramsar area) and also one of Turkey's most important river systems. In addition to the geologic structure of the basin, Eti Silver Mine is a significance source of silver for the basin. In this study, water, sediment and fish samples (Squalius cii (Richardson, 1857); Capoeta tinca (Heckel, 1843); Barbus oligolepis Battalgil, 1941) were collected from 8 stations (1 of them is on the Kinik Stream and 1 of them is on the Dursunbey Stream) from Emet Stream Basin seasonally between November 2010 August 2011 to determine the Ag levels in biotic and abiotic components of Emet Stream Basin. Cluster Analysis was applied to the results to classify the stations according to the contents of silver by using the Past package program and also One Way Anova Test was applied to the results to determine the significant differences of silver accumulations by using the SPSS 17 package program. According to data, silver accumulations in abiotic components of Emet Stream Basin were determined as sediment > water and in biotic components (fish tissues) of Emet Stream were determined as kidney > liver > gill > muscle for S. cii, liver > gill > kidney > muscle for C.tinca and gill > liver > kidney > muscle for B. oligolepis, respectively.