ABSTRACT
The tropical marine environment is increasingly threatened by heavy metal pollution from a variety of sources yet little appears to be known of the potential effects of heavy metals upon coral reefs-an ecosystem which has previously been cited as particularly vulnerable to man-made pollutants (Johannes, 1975). Authors discussing the effects of power plant discharges (Neudecker, 1981), desalination plant effluents (Zieman, 1975), drilling muds (Hudson, Shinn & Robbin, 1982; Dodge & Szmant-Froelich, in press), and chemical effluents (Johannes, 1975) on coral reefs all conclude that our knowledge of the toxicity of heavy metals to corals is strictly limited. Early studies on coral skeletons and the metal levels that they contained (Harriss & Almy, 1964; Wolf, Chilingar & Beales, 1967; Veeh & Turekian, 1968; Livingston & Thompson, 1971; St. John, 1973, 1974) mainly focused on the idea that trace elements in corals might reflect the chemistry of specific water masses and thus regional oceanographic patterns. It is the aim of the present review to consider this relatively extensive literature in the light of more recent papers and theoretical considerations, to speculate, on the basis of current knowledge of the biology of corals, on the possible incorporation of metals into the coral tissues, and finally to highlight research areas awaiting further investigation.
