Statistical analysis of heavy metals in Cerastoderma edule glaucum and Venerupis aurea laeta from Ganzirri Lake, Messina (Italy) Giuseppa Di Bella & Vincenzo Lo Turco & Angela Giorgia Potortì & Rossana Rando & Patrizia Licata & Giacomo Dugo Received: 21 March 2012 / Accepted: 29 January 2013 / Published online: 15 February 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract Our study was carried out on two species of clams, Venerupis aurea laeta and Cerastoderma edule glaucum, from Ganzirri Lake considered as “environ- mental biomarkers” for their changes in physiology, morphology or distribution under the influence of substances in the environment. The aim of the present study was to conduct a statistical analysis on Venerupis and Cerastoderma to investigate the differ- ence between the two autochthonous clams according to the presence of metals, and to link metal concen- trations to the reproductive cycle of clam during 2009–2010. Metal analysis was carried out with in- ductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP- MS). Accuracy and precision were assessed by ana- lyzing the certified standard matrix: mussel tissue NIST SRM 2976. The multivariate analysis was made using the SPSS 13.0 software package for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). In this study, the concen- trations of some metals found in clam tissues showed seasonal cycles with higher values in summer than in winter. The significances of metal concentrations dif- ferences between Venerupis and Cerastoderma samples were estimated with Mann–Whitney U-test. The concentrations of Ag, As, Cd, Mn, Se and Zn show a significant p-level that suggests a difference between the two group samples. Statistical analysis showed that the link of metal concentrations to the reproductive cycles of Venerupis and Cerastoderma was not evident. Keywords Statistical analysis . Venerupis . Cerastoderma . Ganzirri Lake . ICP-MS Introduction Marine pollution is global environmental problem. Different human activities on land, water and air contrib- ute to the contamination of seawater, sediment and organ- isms with potentially toxic substances. Contaminants can be natural substances or artificially produced compounds. After discharges into the sea, contaminants can stay in the water in dissolved form, or they can be removed from the water column through sedimentation to the bottom sedi- ments (Dìez et al. 2005 ; Saeedi et al., 2012 ). Contamination with heavy metals on local, regional and global scales, have been intensively studied in recent years, because metals are persistent and toxic, tend to bioaccumulate, and pose a risk to humans and ecosys- tems. To assess heavy metal contamination in the marine environment different types of organisms may be used, such as sea-weeds and filter-feeding molluscs (Rainbow, 2002; Pan and Wang, 2012). Bivalve molluscs have an Environ Monit Assess (2013) 185:7517–7525 DOI 10.1007/s10661-013-3116-4 G. Di Bella : V. L. Turco : A. G. Potortì : R. Rando : P. Licata (*) : G. Dugo Department of Environmental Sciences, Safety, Territory, Food and Health, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres no. 31, 98166-S. Agata, Messina, Italy e-mail: patrizia_licata@virgilio.it