Seaweeds as Biomonitoring System for Heavy Metal (HM) Accumulation and Contamination of Our Oceans

摘要

This research manuscript reports the heavy metal accumulation in four marine seaweeds sp. 1)? Caulerpa sertlatioides (Cuba); 2) Caulerpa cf. brachypus ; (Bali, Indonesia); 3) Undaria pinnatifida (West-Donegal, Ireland); 4) Ulva lactuca (Easters-Scheldt, the Netherlands). Mechanical pressure at 10 bar of fresh seaweed fronds casu quo biomass in the laboratory delivered seaweed moisture which was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy (ICP)-techniques for heavy-metals = [HM], (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mo, Ni, Pb & Zn). Three important observations were made: 1) The [HM] in the seaweed moisture is higher than in the surrounding seawater which directs to mechanism(s) of bio-accumulation ; 2) The accumulation factor [AF] is varying per metallic-cation with an overall trend for our four seaweeds and sampling locations for [HM] are: As & Co & Cu: 5000 - 10,000 μg/l; Ni & Zn: 3000 - 5000 μg/l; Cd: 2000 - 3000 μg/l; Cr: 1000 - 2000 μg/l; Al: 200 - 1000 μg/l; Mo & Pb & Fe: 0 - 200 μg/l range. 3) Seaweed moisture detected that [HM]: Pb & Zn & Fe — which all three could not be detected in the seawater — supports the view that seaweeds have a preference in their bio-accumulation mechanism for these three HM. Major conclusion is in general that “overall” for the macro-elements Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P & S in the moisture of the four seaweed species the concentration is lower in the seaweed species, or equals the concentration, in comparison to the surrounding sea water. For the HM (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb & Zn) the opposite is the case species and is the concentration “overall” higher in the seaweed species in comparison to the surrounding sea water. Further topics addressed include strategies of irrigation of the Sahara desert with the moisture out of seaweeds under conditions of low anthropogenic influences.