Natural selection for resistance to mercury pollution
- 1 May 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
- Vol. 41 (5), 697-699
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02007728
Abstract
The survival under conditions of mercury pollution of two natural populations of the marine gastropodCerithium rupestre, derived from mercury-polluted and mercury-free sites, was tested in the laboratory. The results indicate a significantly higher survival rate for animals derived from the mercury-polluted site, in each of six repetitive experiments. We conclude that mercury resistance in marine organisms is reinforced in mercury polluted sites, presumably by natural selection for increased resistance. The evolution of metal tolerance in marine organisms may be as fast as that of metal tolerance in plants and the evolution of industrial melanisms in moths.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Differential viability of phosphoglucose isomerase allozyme genotypes of marine snails in nonionic detergent and crude oil-surfactant mixturesEnvironmental Research, 1984
- Mercury selection of allozymes in marine organisms: Prediction and verification in natureProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1984
- The occurrence of mercury in marine algae and some gastropod molluscs of the Mediterranean shoreline of IsraelMarine Pollution Bulletin, 1981
- Adaptation of the PolychaeteNereis Diversicolorto Estuarine Sediments Containing High Concentrations of Zinc and CadmiumJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1973
- Copper Tolerance in the Marine Fouling Alga Ectocarpus siliculosusNature, 1970