ABSTRACT
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.