Pollution of Small Lakes and Ponds of the Western Balkans—Assessment of Levels of Potentially Toxic Elements

Abstract

Small lakes and ponds are among the most sensitive ecosystems, vulnerable to changes that have little or no effect on larger water bodies. Therefore this topic should be given more attention around the world. Anthropogenic impacts, which have been extensively researched in larger water bodies, have been barely examined in small lakes and ponds. Considering that most of the studies are related to lakes bigger than 50 ha, a significant knowledge gap was left regarding small lakes and ponds. The same situation is in the Western Balkans, where studies related to pollutants in small lakes and ponds are limited. This chapter presents an overview of studies related to the contamination of small lakes and ponds of the Western Balkans, with special reference to pollution with potentially toxic elements PTEs. Since massive fish mortality happened several times, an assessment of PTEs in fish species Carassius gibelio from small Aleksandrovac Lake in Serbia is presented. The results indicate that fish muscle (meat) was exposed to the lower pressure of PTEs pollution than liver and gills, suggesting that, despite massive fish mortality, there was no risk for human health by fish consumption.