Occurrence and diversity of mycobiota in heavy metal contaminated sediments of Mediterranean coastal lagoon El-Manzala, Egypt
Occurrence and diversity of mycobiota in heavy metal contaminated sediments of Mediterranean coastal lagoon El-Manzala, Egypt
Abdel-Azeem AM1, El-Morsy EM2, Nour El-Dein MM2, and Rashad HM3*
1 Laboratory of systematic Mycology, Botany Department, Faculty of Science, University of Suez Canal, Ismailia
41522, Egypt.
2 Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Damietta University, New Damietta, Egypt.
3 Ashtoum El-Gamil protectorate, Egyptian Environmental Affair Agency, Port-Said, Egypt
Mycosphere 6(2), 228–240, Doi 10.5943/mycosphere/6/2/12
Abstract
An investigation was conducted to assess the concentration of heavy metals in sediments in five selected locations along Manzala lagoon and correlate the effect of metal concentrations on benthic fungal population. Physiochemical analysis showed that pH values ranged between 7.93 and 8.1 while electric conductivity ranged between 5.64 and 12.76 dSm−1. The mean values of organic matter percentage ranged between 1.0 and 2.6%. The parent material of studied sediment samples is classified as fluviolacustrine type. Different concentrations of heavy metals (Zinc, lead,cadmium, iron, manganese and copper) recorded in soil samples reflect the degree of pollution in all studied sites. The concentrations of heavy metals are relatively high in all sites e.g. Zinc (6.4 to 17.3 μg/g), lead (0.6 to 7.2 μg/g), copper (1.1 to 2.1 μg/g), manganese (98.5 to 150.3 μg/g) and iron (560.8 to 694.1 μg/g) respectively. Site 4 showed the highest absolute value for Zn content (17.3 μg/g), while site 5 recorded the highest absolute value of lead (7.2 μg/g). Site 1 and 2 were recorded the highest value of cadmium and copper content respectively. Taxonomically, 30 taxa of fungi were isolated and assigned to three phyla with five classes, eight orders and families. In view of species richness, site no.1 showed the highest richness index of fungi species (species richness=12) among all studied sites and followed by site no.5 (11 species). Other sites showed moderate to low species richness e.g. site no.4 (9 species), site no.2 (8 species) and site no.3 (7
species) respectively. Based on recovered total CFU site number 4 came first among all studied sites by recording (6870 CFU), while site number 3 showed the lowest count (4360 CFU). Based on the results of mycobiota isolated from the different sites throughout the study, site no. 1 showed the highest Simpson’s species diversity index of 0.859 while site no. 3 showed the lowest value (0.690). The values for heavy metals for all zones are of public health significance and pose a threat to the survival of both humans and aquatic life. An immediate attention from concerned authorities is required in order to protect the Manzala lagoon and its dependants from further pollution and
diseases.