102
Trace Elements in Abiotic and Biotic Environments
Copper is easily taken up from waters by phyto and zooplankton. Some aquatic
weeds (e.g., gibbous duckweed, Lemna gibba L.) may accumulate up to 60%–80% of
its concentrations in water (Khellaf and Zerdaout 2010). Some aquatic fungal strains
have a great capacity to retain Cu, within the range of 1.7–7.5 g/kg (Simonescu and
Ferdes 2012).
Contents of Cu in the aquatic fauna vary highly, and is usually higher in the
coast water than in the middle of sea basins. Detritivores contain more Cu (up to
about 100 mg/kg) than omnivores (up to about 50 mg/kg) (Cain et al. 1992). The
highest contents of Cu are reported for crabs (58 mg/kg) and crayfish (56 mg/kg)
(Kabata-Pendias and Mukherjee 2007). Some Cu cations, such as Cu 2+ , CuOH + , and
Cu 2 (OH 2 ) 2+ , are more toxic to aquatic biota than other species.
Median Cu concentration in bottled water of the EU countries is 0.251 μg/L, and
is much lower than those in tap water, 5.65 μg/L (Birke et al. 2010). The guideline
Cu concentration in drinking water is established at 2000 μg/L by the WHO (2011a),
and by the European Economic Community in bottled water at 1000 μg/L (Diduch
et al. 2011).
Several techniques are proposed for cleaning water from Cu. It can be removed
from water by the precipitation at high pH (9–11). Some chemical reagents are used
for formations of insoluble Cu complexes (Chen 2013). The volcanic rock from
Northern Rwanda reveals a great adsorption capacity for Cu, 10.87 mg/g, and is used
for its removal from wastewater (Sekomo et al. 2012).
14.4 AIR
Copper concentration in the atmosphere varies greatly from 0.03 to 0.06 ng/m 3 in the
remote region (Antarctica) to 4900 ng/m 3 in the industrial regions of the EU countries
(Table 14.1). The background Cu content in air is proposed at 4 ng/m 3 , and its calculated median in air of remote regions is 2.6 ng/m 3 (Reimann and de Caritat 1998).
Sources of Cu in air are mainly anthropogenic, but some amounts of Cu are from
rock weathering, volcanic emissions, thermal springs, and blown dust from terrestrial components. Global emission of Cu has been recently reduced, and in 1995, it
was calculated at 35 kt (Pacyna and Pacyna 2001). Its average deposition in the EU
regions was estimated at 34 g/ha/yr, and varied from 5 to 100 g/ha/yr, with the lowest being in Finland and the highest in Austria (Nicholson et al. 2003).
Average Cu content, 7 mg/kg, of moss sampled in Norway during 1990–1995
was lower than in mosses sampled earlier, 20  mg/kg (Berg and Steinnes 1997).
Mean Cu contents of two moss species from mountains in Poland are a bit higher
(6.3–7.6 mg/kg) than that of the same moss species from Alaska (4.4–5.5 mg/kg).
This may suggest that atmospheric Cu input is higher in Poland than in Alaska
(Migaszewski et al. 2009).
14.5 PLANTS
There are several evidences for the active Cu uptake by plants; however, the passive absorption is likely to occur, especially at the toxic Cu level, in the growth
media. Rate of its uptake differs widely, depending on the metal species. Copper in