Potential Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Offshore Waters Using Natural Sponges

Potential Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Offshore Waters Using Natural Sponges | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Potential Bioremediation of Heavy Metals in Offshore Waters Using Natural Sponges Bolin xu, Qihao Zhang, Jun Chen, Ming Chen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8240106/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The heavy metal contamination in aquatic environments is a critical hazard to biota and human health, yet simple, low-cost remediation measures remain insufficient. This study focused on natural and synthetic sponges, monitoring 12 heavy metals (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn, V, Ba, Mo, Cd, Pb) in offshore seawater and sponge tissues to identify factors regulating sponge adsorption capacity. Natural sponges showed significant bioaccumulation of heavy metals with distinct interspecific differences in accumulated metal profiles. Temporal variations in sponge metal concentrations were strongly associated with environmental nutrient levels, as well as sponge density and porosity—with sponge morphology being the dominant intrinsic factor. Spongia officinalis had a high removal rate of metallic copper, which was 84 ± 0.6%, 90.6 ± 1.6%, and 74.9 ± 0.2%, in seawater exposed to an initial concentration of metallic copper of 0.05 mg/L, 0.1 mg/L, and 1 mg/L, respectively. Sponges Ecological restoration Heavy metal pollution Synthetic sponges Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Appendix.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8240106","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":553490198,"identity":"05058eb0-18e1-404d-b44b-2a8190ba56b4","order_by":0,"name":"Bolin xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xiamen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bolin","middleName":"","lastName":"xu","suffix":""},{"id":553490199,"identity":"921bb644-6249-41a5-b8ee-6f470b29f2d8","order_by":1,"name":"Qihao Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xiamen 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