Accumulation of Heavy Metals by Bitter Lakes Macro- Algae in Egypt: Environmental Bioindicator

Abstract

Abstract The potential of algae to accumulate heavy metals from marine environment was studied. The aim is to study the accumulation of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe and Mg in the tissues of algae that grow in the little Biter Lake, Egypt. For this purpose, the level of metals in twelve different algal species were studied extensively. The investigated algae belong to: Green, Brown, and Red algae. The investigation includes the influence of seasonal variation on the rate of heavy metals accumulation by algae. Meanwhile, levels of metals in the Lake water were also assessed. The results indicated that there are differences between the metal concentration and the different algal species. Furthermore, differences were also found in the levels of different metals within the studied algae. The overall results showed that the highest accumulation rate was exhibited by Red algae followed by Green then Brown algal species. Correlation between the level of metals in the Lake Water, and the studied algal species was conducted to determine the concentration factors for each metal. It was concluded that the bioaccumulation of heavy metals by aquatic algae is an indication of the availability of those metals within the aquatic environment.